D.R. Slideshow Week 5

It hard to believe that our week with the team has come and gone already. What an amazing time it was. We were able to install all of the toilets and sinks at the school, clear out all of the building materials that were being safe-guarded in in the school, build shelving to organize and store school supplies and go through dozens of boxes and bags of donated items that have long been stored away because of the lack of man power to organize and inventory these items.

We had a great time as a team, working and playing with the children of the community, helping Sofia and Rafael get organized and growing in our own understanding of development and relief. I think an important lesson was seeing the difference between empowering people and creating a culture of dependence.

What does it mean to help people help themselves? If we give handouts instead of a hand up the expectation that we set steal people's dignity and replaces it with dependency. How are we giving people the tools to overcome the challenges in their lives. Are we taking the easy road of giving to those in need to satisfy our our sense of duty or are we willing to take the long hard road of relationship development and empowerment? Who are you investing in?