Rio de Voluntad

Rio de Voluntad

Life, as a river, opens her course to a variety of paths; nevertheless returns to the same place in the end. The path in which I was navigated was one of social services and humanitarian work, perhaps best stated as service learning.

Fundacion Esperanza de Mexico was my boat along the journey in which I choose to sail. The marginalized, urban, Mexican family and her extraordinary culture was the path by which we were navigated. In this boat, I was accompanied by a group of volunteers of distinct cultures and nationalities- United States, Pakistan, Heiti, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Vietnam, etc- and of course ¨la sange Mexicana¨ as the song goes “al sonoro rugir del cañón”.

We all shared a common mission and used instruments of picks, shovels, buckets, gloves, sunglasses and tools. The sweat that soaked our backs was hardly noticed as the salary of our work was paid by coins of gold that is never spent but piled in the pockets of our heart.
Each Esperanza home is a testament to the borders that have been broken down between our communities, in which each block leaves the fingerprints of men and women hungry for equality, and in this space we leave behind a seed in which bears fruit to the sentiments of gratitude and mutual admiration. For each one of us, an Esperanza home represents the absolute truth that we can shout for all the world to hear, ¨La unidad hace la fuerza¨¨Unity shall be our strength¨ and we sing with joy the common Spanish phrase, ¡Si se puede, si se puede, si se pudo, si se pudo! Yes, we can when work together, and so we can continue if we are united.

As Juan Donoso Cortes said:
¨Hay que unirseno para estar juntos, sino para hacer algo juntos¨
¨We don´t just come together to merely be together but rather to accomplish something great together¨

This experience achieves great changes in the hearts of each and every person involved. It is an effort that is only realized with the our open hearts and souls of many people appreciating and valuing a world beyond our own.

Jorge Torres

summer volunteer from Tijuana, 2010