For every ton of paper 10 kids, eat three times a day, for a whole month. Surprising right?
I have had various opportunities to share my story with the press and other types of media outlets, and I always get the same question which to me in the first place was extremely easy to answer. Analyzing now, six years after the project started I realize that the project to me has much more meaning and depth than it had when I was just a kid.
What was what kept the project going when things went wrong?
Easy. I would normally answer with what motivated me to create the idea.
To which I would answer “that would be when I met the kids in the Aldea in Zarate”. I was 11 and I couldn't understand how children which were even younger than I was at the time were capable of smiling and being so happy, even though they lived without a parents and with the least amount of resources. None of them had their own toy to play with, or their own bedroom to go to when they wanted to unwind, none had the guarantee that they would find a job when they grew up and thus, avoiding their parents footsteps, nor the security of living under the same roof and culture of love that they were born in.
I now, understand that as a kid that day would change me forever. No, not because of pity, to me those kids are the definition of warriors, but because I would find myself looking at a mirror and hating every single part of myself.
Why?
Because I was a spoiled little girl, who took for granted the education she had, the parents that loved her, the meals that she got every single day, the love and affection she got and the roof that she lived under.
I had the mentality that I deserved all of those things therefore I wasn't thankful nor aware of their influence in my day to day life.
To a girl who was used to getting everything her way, watching a three year old hiding a package of oreos under his shirt because he feared he wouldn't get a meal the next day only made her feel more pathetic after her latest temper tantrum because she didn't like the food being served at her home.
That selfish, unconsidered spoiled brat would have probably helped those beautiful children until the project would have been done. Like most of us do, we feel sorry for them so we help until we either forget or unconsciously think that we have helped enough and were done with our service.
But I wasnt that little girl anymore, and I am not that selfless person anymore.
In the matter of an hour I realized how life is unfair and that we can't always get what we want.
So, I decided to take that rejection against the word: “NO” and put it into something that I felt determined was going to work and have a positive impact.
So what happened when my fifth grade teacher told me that my project was going to be unsustainable, that I wasn’t going to be able to recycle one kg of paper? I said, NO I am going to prove you wrong.
Why? Because I had the mental picture of that hungry kid, and the smiles of my friends in Aldeas and I wanted to give them what was best for them.
And what happened when the mayor of Miraflores, said that the bin had to leave the park because an obnoxious neighbor said that it ruined the parks decor? I said NO. And the bin was never moved.
My answer now would be different.
What kept the project going when things went wrong?
The word NO, and the positive motivation that came behind.
I didn’t say NO because I didn't like what my authorities were telling me but because deep in my heart I knew that they were the ones who were wrong. I had friends to help out, who really DID need it. They were kids who needed food and didn’t even complain about it.
My NO came with love, and patience and anger that they didn’t have a warm plate of food three times a day like I did.
My NO’s came straight from the heart, and I felt proud that in some way my hard headed ways were used in a positive way.
Six years later I have learned much more than to say NO with love.
That NO has helped me collect over 100, 0000 tons of paper and help over 1 million kids eat.
More importantly, I got slapped by reality and actually decided to do something about it.
I realized which battles were worth fighting for and that my priorities at such a young age weren’t heading for the right direction.
“We can’t always get what we want, but if we try sometimes we just might find. We get what we need”.
-The Rolling Stones