Drops in a bucket

One of the interesting parts of this trip is that I've gotten to stay at a number of hostels. Hostels usually bring in a very interesting crowd and provide a good opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. This morning I had breakfast with a couple of organic farmers from the US, a British singer/songwriter, a French guy and a Columbian guy with 2-foot-long dreadlocks.

The room that I stayed in had clouds painted on the walls and people had written notes all over. Most of them were graffitti-like and not worth repeating, but one in particular caught my eye. It said -

"Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little." - Edmund Burke

It's so easy to be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of a problem, that you fall into complacency and don't attempt to do anything about it. It's not like apathy is something that people strive for, rather I think that it is a response to not having the control to fix something.

Nicaragua is a prime place for being overwhelmed by the complex, intertwined, and huge problems.

A few weeks into my internship, after the novelty had worn off and I was getting into a routine, I began to feel despair about the whole situation. The difference between the people that were working with ALTERNATIVA (an organization that is very efficient and successful) and the people that were completley on their own was sometimes nothing more than a few extra dollars of income per day. That is, the work of ALTERNATIVA, as good as it is, is only a drop in the bucket. The strides that were made were so difficult to see that I sometimes got discouraged. It's easy to think: What's the point? These people are still living in tacked together shacks, eating rice and beans 3 times a day, and gathering rain water to wash clothes. Is the work we're doing really making a difference?

Then again, I have to remember that I'm coming from a culture that values measurable progress. I'm programed to want to see noticeable change.....something that is unrealistic for an 11 week internship in Latin America.

I also need to remember and be reminded that even though I can't fix everything, that doesn't mean that I should do nothing. Even though it may be just drops in a bucket, they're still valuable drops. And even though I can't measure them, they're there.

A few years ago I read the book Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The book chronicles the life of Paul Farmer, a medical doctor in Haiti. I don't remember the quote exactly but the book gets it's name from a proverb that says something like "Beyond mountains, there are more mountains" meaning, even if you treat and heal hundreds of people with life threatening illnesses, there will still be hundreds more sick people. Farmer's life exhibits tireless dedication and devotion to the people of Haiti, even though he will never be able to deal with all the health issues there. He's a very amazing guy. I also saw this kind of dedication in my co-workers and bosses at ALTERNATIVA. If I was discouraged after a few months working in that environment, I can't imagine what they feel dedicating their life's work to this.

It's humbling and inspiring to see these example of tirelessly putting drops in the bucket.