Compassion

Today I would like to share with you the beginning of one of my stories from Peru that has impacted me deeply. It opened my eyes to a need that I wasn't aware of, and that I could personally help with.

One morning at school, I was looking for a notebook that I was using for the teachers to sign in with. No matter where we looked in the office, we couldn't find it. I simply couldn't figure out what had happened to it. I was honestly quite upset, because I was convinced it had been stolen. A few days later, while I was teaching, I looked down at a student's work and realized that he was using the notebook that was missing. I was amazed to see it still even had my name on the front. I didn't say anything at the moment, but I went and asked one of the people in the office about it. She went and looked in his backpack, and the missing notebook was there. At that moment, I was struck with deep compassion. For days I had been fuming about this missing notebook, but in an instant that anger disappeared. I realized there was a real need that I could help with. This student just needed a pen and some paper, and had no way of getting them. I knew that this boy was from a small village in the jungle. He was staying with his older brother in Iquitos so that he could attend a better school than the one in their remote village. I now knew enough about their situation to know that they probably couldn't afford his school supplies.

I asked the girl in the office if he had all of the school supplies he needed. I told her that I would gladly buy what he was missing. When she checked, he didn't have any of the things he needed. He had been borrowing pens from his classmates and using one notebook for all of his subjects. So, the next day, I went out and got the things he needed and dropped them off to him. He was overjoyed! His brother then told me that he had been praying for a way to get the supplies he needed for school since they didn't have any extra money to buy them.

This one experience awoke in me a deep passion to help those who want an education to reach their goals. It still amazes me that something as simple as a pen and a notebook can change the world for one student in need.