BUILDING LOVE
Love
noun \ˈləv\
- a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (2): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests b : an assurance of affection
- 2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or DEVOTION
BLUE Missions was created on a simple principle; a principle that is the bedrock foundation of everything that we do as an organization. It is even the meaning of our name. Our mission first and foremost is Building Love and Uniting Everyone. As a veteran trip leader, I always make it a point to remind our volunteers of this principle every single time that we travel to the Dominican Republic to begin our projects. We strive as an organization to combat and eradicate the global water and sanitation crisis. But it doesn’t matter if our target was water & sanitation, or child hunger, or cancer research. No matter what we focus our time and effort towards, our underlying purpose and goal is to Build Love and Unite Everyone.
Love is an interesting concept. Like any other word in the human language it has a definition, but the way we experience love is universally different. I consider myself a romantic, so you can only imagine how many things I express my love towards. But the love that one experiences on BLUE is unlike anything that I have ever felt in my life.
BLUE love is, at its truest sense, unfiltered devotion. It's understandable how someone falls in love with the work that they do, but BLUE love is more than that. BLUE love is not only the work, but also the people and the places that we work in. Since my first trip to the Dominican Republic in 2010, I have worked in 14 different communities across the country. But I remember each one as vividly as if I were still there. I still dream to this day of El Catey, the first community I ever worked in. I remember the school in which we slept and the house where we ate our meals. I remember Pacquita del Barrio from Rio Piedras in 2011 and Elyeser from Los Puyones in 2013. The names and locations and experiences that I have been privileged to share over these past 7 years have been enough to last a lifetime, and I pray that they never leave me.
Like a said, I am a romantic person by nature. Love and affection is something that I incorporate in everything that I do. But it is the unfiltered devotion that I have learned from BLUE love that I hope resonates with everyone I meet. I hope that this Valentine’s Day you strive to give your significant other the gift that eternally keeps on giving, and that is BLUE love.
