“…we believe that magic can happen inside people. Magic can’t happen inside projects; magic can’t happen inside inanimate objects. Love. Loving people is our end goal. And it’s just difficult to describe why unless you’ve seen the results.”

— Riley Fuller, President and Co-Founder

As Humanity and Hope United embarks upon building relationships within a new village we will be partnering with called "La Cuchilla," it’s important to be reminded of the potential for magic dwelling in each person we meet. The village of La Cuchilla consists of 27 families living in 20 small homes. They all share one well to obtain life-sustaining water, which must always be boiled in order to make sure it’s safe to drink. The villagers of La Cuchilla have told us they have been praying for seventeen years for our arrival, and we do not want to let them down.

So where do you start when you are called to help others prosper? Transformation isn’t something you can achieve overnight, nor is it something that should have a planned trajectory. There are a lot of unknowns along our path to serve the people we partner with, but the one thing we do know for certain is that people grow when they are loved well.

We are reminded of this truth when we look at this recent photo of some of the young girls in La Coroza, a village Humanity and Hope United has been partnering with for years. The girl to the far right is Sarah. From this photo you may never know the suffering and hardship she has faced in her young life. She has been thirsty. She has felt alone and scared. But, these experiences do not define her as you see her today, hand on her hip, ready to face the world.

If you look closely at the slideshow below, you can see the progression she makes as time rolls on. In the earlier photos, you still see joy, but it is also coupled with exhaustion and hesitation. She is not yet ready to believe that the love being given to her by strangers is something that will endure.

Flash forward a few years and we are now able to revel in the fact that she is becoming a force to be reckoned with. Sarah sees the people of Humanity and Hope United as her friends. She welcomes volunteers with open arms because she knows that they are there to love on her, and will always believe in her. Not only that, but she has clean water to drink, food in her stomach and experiences of joy and stability at home. The power to dream big has been inside of Sarah since the beginning, now she just has a little more “roar” behind it.

It is our deepest hope that one day the children of La Cuchilla will pose for a photo with courage in their eyes and a strong stance to take on the world, just like miss Sarah.

So let's ask Sarah...

What would it be like if his character was supported and encouraged?

(click right to see her response)

What dreams would live in her eyes if she knew she had a stable platform from which to soar?

What would happen if he met new people and they held him with love?

Magic would happen.

“Together we are so, so strong. Magic happens when we focus on serving the world, not saving the world.”

— Ben Higgins, H&H Board Member

Upon returning from a trip last month (which you can read about in our previous post ), Ben and the rest of the team at Humanity and Hope United were encouraged by the stories they heard and the path they travelled, admiring relationships old and new. They travelled from Sarah's village of La Coroza to La Cuchilla and were able to compare the two. And just like the old photos of Sarah demonstrate, despite immense hardship, love grows abundantly in the hearts of the children and adults of La Cuchilla. But, these hearts are tired. They long for a brighter future, but how can they look to a future growth without present work?

Jobs give people a purpose and a means to provide. Purpose and stability bring hope, and that's where the real magic lives. Without motivated adults to look up to, Sarah's story would have turned out much differently. Please help us to give voice and power to the wishes of the villagers in La Cuchilla by joining us in our campaign to provide them with jobs, a way to provide stability they've not yet known, which will enable them grow into the best version of themselves. Together let's help them grow to ROAR.

By: Kelly Segar with Ally Browning