I gave nothing to the project however I shared everything I had from a place within my heart that grew larger and stronger everytime I trekked up the side of a mountain to meet with the children. It is that incredible feeling of love and ´compassion in action´ that I ask sponsors, donors and volunteers to find through our project and the children.
Sharing means that a part of you joins us, becomes one with our labor of love here and your enhanced compassion begins to touch many other parts of your life.
Every volunteer that has joined us with an attitude of sharing has found this to be absolutely true. They tell me at their farewell dinner that this experience has opened something within them that they never experienced before. It is an awareness that you can not get by saying, ¨I already gave at the office.¨
Don´t get me wrong, donations, whether cash or materials or postcards with messages of hope are all needed and deeply appreciated. We say thank you as often as possible through emails, letters and artwork made by the children and some sponsors have been surprised to find a beautiful alpaca sweater waiting for them in their mailbox.
As you shift your thinking to a sharing mode, you will find that you never ¨gave away your money¨, but that a part of you came with it, you shared it with a project full of children that are yours now too.
When you look in the mirror and feel absolutely great about who you see looking back, you will know exactly what I mean.
**** Siempre mis amigos
Jim Killon
Boots on the ground in Huaraz Peru