Monday, January 23, 2012

Cathy Walter – Giving and receiving

Cathy is a nurse in Los Angeles.
I had the wonderful privilege of joining the students from Xavier University in the village of Patanatic, and what amazing students the 12 of them are. We all reflected on a nightly basis about the day’s events and gained an understanding of how wonderful and grateful the people of this village are. Although it seemed by their living conditions that they had "nothing," they do not seem to see it that way. This experience allowed all of us to look deep into ourselves, and examine just what is important to us. The villagers seemed to have simple lives without the technology that we have, and yet they seemed content with what they did have. One of the aspects of their culture that I actually envy is that families all live very close to each other, and seem to be one large happy family. The children run playfully, without any shoes, in what seems to be a very safe environment. Although the wonderful people we met were very thankful to us for our help, they have no idea that we came away with so mch more than we ever gave them.

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