After not sleeping for days, I took a small break from the devastating news. Ever since last Saturday, I have been feeling as fragile as a sheet of paper and as heavy as a truck. My mind is filled with thoughts I cannot single out but feels blank at the same time. When you read about a natural disaster, a terrible accident, or an act of terrorism, you experience a mix of emotions that eventually dissolves into your daily routine. When it is your own country that you read about, there is no escaping the helplessness, anguish, and despair you feel, and the thought of the inevitable consequences that your people will face. All of a sudden your life is disrupted and you realize that it is not “some country” in the news anymore: it is your HOME.
On the evening of April 16, 2016, Ecuador was struck by the largest earthquake in decades, and possibly one of the worst in its history. Thousands of families have been severely affected, losing their homes, their belongings, their businesses, and even worse, their loved ones. The (known) death toll so far is around 600 and the injured now surpassed 3,000 people. The magnitude of the damage in certain areas is so critical that there are no other ways to access them but through air transport. Some survivors have been more than 72 hours without water, food, electricity, medicine, or a place to sleep. International rescuers have arrived with equipment to search for survivors among debris, sometimes finding that there are only a few left. What these rescuers, firemen, doctors, and other organizations have described of the affected areas is horrifying, to say the least.
Being an Ecuadorian student in Boston and experiencing this tragedy only through the news, texts, tweets, images, and videos, I feel at times as if it is all just a nightmare that someone will soon wake me up from. I trust that fellow Ecuadorians in a similar situation can all agree. The feeling of helplessness is sometimes unbearable, to the point where you cry only imagining what it must have been like to be there. The need to hug your family and make sure they are all safe during the aftershocks is overwhelming. The urge to help those in need and not knowing how is exhausting. However, a friend of mine reminded me of a quote by Fred Rogers I’ve always loved: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers; you will always find people who are helping.’”
This quote has been my greatest inspiration to find and spread hope through these difficult times. It has shown me the hundreds of thousands of people who are spending their own time and resources to organize and fix boxes full of food, clothes, water, medicine, and other basic needs. It has made me appreciate the atmosphere of unity all Ecuadorians are living in after a decade of turmoil caused by political disagreements. It has demonstrated what humans can accomplish when they work together for a cause. It has made me thank the Universe for those who selflessly travel to help the victims, even after being warned about how precarious the situation is.
When you focus on the helpers, those images of destroyed homes can be replaced with images of empty shelves in supermarkets due to the tremendous amount of donations being made. You can transform the disturbing headlines into messages of hope being written on the cans of non-perishable food. The incomprehensibility of what happened can be fought by the certainty that there are heroes among us; heroes who don't wear capes, who don't have superpowers, but have 100% disposition to help others. Even though the earthquake left enormous cracks and crevices on the ground, it has healed those in our hearts and brought us closer than ever. It marked a before and after in our memories, that we will now remember as the day Ecuador demonstrated what it is capable of.
I was just surrounded by other Ecuadorians at Berklee for the first time since the earthquake. They will never know how important that moment was for me. Just for a few minutes, I felt as if the weight of it all was being lifted off my shoulders. There was this clear, calming thought in my head that insisted: we are not alone. We can always count on one another. What I instantly learned is that we should never underestimate the power of being there for someone else, even if that is the only thing you can do. The impact we have on others is immeasurable. There is no amount of damage that cannot be mend by empathy and solidarity. After all, it is what makes us human.
P.D. I wish to dedicate this article to all the citizens, volunteers, blood donors, fire fighters, police officers, hospitals, doctors, international and national rescuers, rescue dogs, engineers, security guards, drivers, constructors, organizations, companies, teachers, shelter keepers, politicians, pilots, artists, chefs, journalists, children, and to all of those who are one way or another putting their lives on hold to bring help to those in need. Your generosity is gluing my country back together, and I wish there were enough words in the Spanish or English language to show my appreciation. I have never felt more proud to call myself an Ecuadorian and a human being.
