Update from the Group!

By Kimberly, One Special Young Woman.

As a photographer, I have a strange sense of beautiful. Most people see a beach as a beach and nothing special but I take the time to appreciate it and the surrounding objects and the way the light hits it and see it is beautiful, then I try to capture it as best as I possibly can.

As I have been in St. Vincent these past couple of days, I’ve wondered why I see beauty in some of the tragic things, like the tin shacks across the street from the ornate houses or the the trash in the streets that no one seems to think twice of or the overall poverty in general. Today, we went to Dark View Falls with several Vincentian men and women and we got to know them a lot. At first, we had the awkward silence of trying to find something to talk about but as we swam at the falls we began to get comfortable with each other. By lunch, we were all having a great time. And as we all got to asking questions about each other’s culture, with questions as strange as “Do you say ‘huh’?” I began to admire the beautiful spirit of these people and then began to understand why I see beauty in so much. I see the spirit in those with large, ornate houses who left their home when they were young to seek opportunity abroad and came back when they were old and successful to make a life for themselves, and those with poor shacks, I see the beautiful resiliency of those who will not quit despite their circumstances.

And on the way back to camp, as we rode the bus, they shared their joy with us as we all started standing up and dancing to the music of both of our cultures, having the time of our lives. And despite my strange sense of beautiful, I think everyone was able to see the world as I see it for a moment and agree, that it is, indeed, beautiful.