peru-the final leg.

Obviously my blog has suffered the past month or so, but I would dare say that is a good thing. It only confirms that my final days in Peru were busy ones. They were the busiest, and the best.

 

When we returned home from Machu Picchu (i'll tell you all about it later) our work load seemed to double. The workshop I researched and planned for the entire summer was suddenly deemed unattainable, and it is needless to say I had a few tearful hours after recieving the news. I was left feeling empty. I felt like my entire time spent in Piura had been wasted, and that now after two and a half months I had nothing to show for myself. I wanted to do good, and doubted the reality that I already had. However, within trials lye opportunity and I was lucky enough to realize mine.

 

I spent every day of my final three weeks in Peru with the beautiful and talented women of La Campina. Together we established a high functioning business, which I am happy to say is still successfully operating. We started with the absolute basics, like forming a weekly schedule and showing up to work on time each day, and by the end we hit the harder stuff like product development and exporting. I was using my education to better their lives, and for possibly the first time, I really felt like I was accomplishing some of the good I went there to do. It should come as no surprise however, that what they shared with me far outshines anything I could have possibly done for them.

 

Naturally, I was thrilled to be leaving on top with a successful project under my belt, but more than that I was overwhelmed by all that I learned and the relationships I gained. My last three weeks with those women forever changed me, as did my experience in Peru as a whole. I am a better, more complete, person for my time there.  I came back with a greater understanding of charity and what it means to truly love another person. I now know now the strength and happiness that stems from humility. The words sacrafice and compassion have whole new meaning. I know what it is to recieve service, as I did more than ever in my life there. I know that I love those people like my very own family, and  I know that I'm going back.

Who's with me?

 

-lakintate