Mark Twain had as one of his goals to go down to the Amazon River. He never did. I was thinking of this has I flew over the Largest river of the world and arrived to Montevideo, Uruguay. On my way there I had stopped at Buenos Aires, Argentina, to switch planes at the same time that the Argentinean Soccer team was returning to their motherland having been eliminated at the world cup. People at the airport were crying. On top of facing a national financial crisis, now their soccer team had not made it past the early rounds. Then I heard a whole different tune. A group of Brazilian soccer fans were all laughter and joy, cheering for their team who had made it to the next round. These fans were convinced –as they always are- that their team will win the world cup. The mixture of sadness and joy of the airport, made me think of the mixture of sweet and salty water that was taking place in nature there, with the Rio De la Plata (the Silver River) and the Atlantic Ocean, the largest outpour of sweet water in the world.
The emotional atmosphere was not that different when I arrived to Montevideo, Uruguay. The Uruguayan team had also been eliminated at the world cup. Everyone there seemed to be thinking of this loss when I got there. I got in sync with this feeling, although the beauty of the sea, the joyful flight of the seagulls by that endless white beach, made it hard to be sad for long. A few days latter, I also found this positive disposition take over the people of Uruguay. People of the sea know that life is a mystery, a place where the wheel of fortune, of weather and winds, brings you both, sadness and joy. And they are strong enough to deal with both. When they are near one of them, they seem always aware that the other one is not far away.
Like with every society, there are members of the population that face a harder life, the ones that the social system has forgotten or does not care to look their way. The underprivileged. In this case poor children who also suffer mental illness. It is for these children that a group of psychologists, social workers and teachers, had formed multi-disciplinary teams, to provide them with the services that these children needed in order to get ahead in life. It is with this group of altruistic helpers (Asociacion Andamios is their name) that I was there to collaborate.
I got to see the contrasts between wealth and poverty that I have seen in Asia and North America. The world of the wealthy seems to be the same everywhere. Their clothes, perfumes, and mannerisms are the same. They carry the sense of self-importance and force regardless of which language they speak or which country they live in. They own the world. The extreme poor also live in the same world. They have internalized the sense that they are unwanted, that even the space that their bodies occupy is not theirs. This particular way of looking at the world is even more devastating when it comes to children. And there, with these children I also found this look, this feeling: We are unwanted, this life is a mistake. Social worth translating into emotional worth. Since we have no external value (wealth) we do not have any inner-value either. We are not loved and we do not matter.
That is why the work of my friends from Andamios is so important. They love these children and they show them that they matter. And they provide them with the help and education so that they may break the cycle of poverty.
They believe like I do, that those with the greatest skills shall help those with the greatest needs. And it takes great skill along with great love to enter minds and hearts of those who bear such enormous suffering in life as these kids have.
Human solidarity looks the same everywhere. I have found it in Mexico and Central America, with altruistic students, who work hand in hand with peasants, and Indians. I have found it in the streets of Korea, with martial arts teachers, who take-in orphans and raise them and teach them as if they where their own children. I have found it in America in Indian Reservations and inner cities, with large groups of compassionate beings, who re-ignite hope and reclaim love in valleys that have been taken over by hopelessness and fear.
People who practice solidarity are the most beautiful people in the world. Their laughter, their positive energy, is medicine. Even their sadness has beauty in it. Their sadness comes from their love for others. They are the sweet river that nurtures all of the life around them. They are the human Amazon.