Huacarpay Cleanup

Today we went back to the camp where all of the inhabitants of one of the flooded towns are living.  This is our third time back to this particular camp except today, instead of photographing, we all helped clean up.  Due to the rivers over flooding, they bring with them massive amounts of plastic and styrofoam that collect on the banks.  Each student and teacher took a different location of the bank and began picking up as much garbage as they could see.  By the end we had filled up thirty two garbage bags and had eliminated around 80% of the garbage.  As we worked in teams the river banks began to take different forms into something cleaner and the true beauty was revealed. 
As we were all along the river a local man came by with a megaphone preaching about how the locals should do their part to help the environment.  This man in addition to our contribution inspired some of the locals that were washing their clothes in the river to help us and take initiative.  Even our two drivers started to help us.  Although this was could be considered a small contribution in the larger scheme of things, it was a very rewarding and beautiful deed.  I believe it taught a lot of us the value of community service and how easy it is to contribute to a community in need.