People Can Find Happiness in Everything

It was my first day volunteering in Argentina and I’ve never been confronted with such poverty in my entire life. After the two hour bus ride out from the city center of Córdoba we arrived in a small neighborhood. Suddenly the roads were dirt and most of the houses were falling apart. As we walked to the community center, children peered out of their barred windows with eyes of despair. We turned down a long street and at the end there was a large group of children standing in the middle. At the sight of us they came running and shouting with joy. Every child kissed me on the cheek as I said hello.
As we rolled in, so did the storm clouds. The small building was filled with children running left and right. I walked in and a group of young girls grabbed my hand and pulled me into conversation. They wanted to know everything about me and were beaming with excitement. After about twenty minutes of chatter, we were able to get a small group of kids to come into the classroom for my first English lesson. The storm was now directly above us and the rain came down with force. The girls screamed at every clap of thunder and the boys laughed teasingly. Finally we got their attention and gave a lesson that lasted about an hour.

After we came back into the main room their was a commotion by the doors. All of the kids were now running through the streets that had suddenly become rivers. The rain was persistent and heavy while they danced and splashed in the murky-brown street. They were having a blast. We also painted butterflies or “mariposas” on the faces of many girls. They loved it, but once they ran into the rain their butterflies melted away.

Watching everyone run around in the rain was a sight I’ll never forget. Not only were the kids playing, the adults were too. To me rain has always been a nuisance, an annoyance and a pain, but to them it was a bright and cheerful day. They made the most out of it. No one was worried about their clothes getting wet or if their hair was messed up. They were just living; they were happy.