"Long live Chile!"
Batman says "Strength to Chile!"
All of those garbage bags are filled with donations for the people of Conception
Same with the tents and cardboard boxes.
"Chile United!"
It was a hot day, but everyone was working diligently and happily.
A sampling of what they wanted people to donate. Food, water, shelter. The basics.Lauren: Yesterday Aneya and I ventured up to Salvador where I saw a bunch of tents on a run earlier, quite a walk but we wanted to be able to talk to people. Were they living in these tents or what were they used for?
Aneya: I just really wanted to get out of the house, it was becoming really depressing, sitting around, reading all the devastating news. So out we went, on the lookout for the Peruvians Lauren had talked about earlier. She said they were living in tents so that's what we were looking for.
Lauren: As we approached there was Latin-style hip hop coming from gigantic speakers. Surely, this could not be where people were living. I was approached by a really sweet guy, Renato, who told me that he and his friend just decided to sit in the park around 3 p.m. Sunday and start Tweeting, saying they would take donations.
Aneya: There were a couple tents and bags and bags of what looked like garbage, plus boxes filled with goods, and people milling about everywhere. Interesting....Lauren started talking to Renato, while I went around and took pictures.
Lauren: Renato had been on vacation with his friend in Santiago, his friend was on vacation from college and Renato, another 20-something, were here from the north when the earthquake struck. They didn't know how they could help, and this seemed as good a way to contribute as any. By Thursday their two person operation became a 350 person collaboration, and from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. people would stay at this makeshift donation center and collect anything people could spare: cleaning supplies, water, food, clothes.
Aneya: That story is incredible. And the fact that Twitter, of all things, made it possible! I love seeing young people getting involved, and I love the fact that a social networking site helped unite all these people in a common cause. The whole thing was quite inspiring.
Lauren: There were just so many people here, it was amazing. And to think it just started with a couple of Tweets saying they would be sitting in the park, accepting donations with no sure way to get it to the south. Now Carpa de Ayuda, "tent of help," has an organization coming to pick up supplies in the morning and an army truck carts off a full truck every day.
Aneya: They had a list of things, like water, bread, tents, any type of dried food, shampoo, anything people could give. There was a nice energy around that place, what with the Latin music, everyone was smiling, contributing, helping, everyone seemed happy to be there.
Lauren: It was really just remarkable to see these people pull together. They made little lanterns with inspirational sayings, were blasting music, had a large Batman character with a Chilean flag. They were clearly having a good time while helping their fellow Chileans in the South. Today is their last day at the Salvador metro station collecting goods. After that they're headed back up north.
-- Aneya & Lauren
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