By Patricia Calderón in Barranquilla, Colombia and Damon Guinn in Kansas City.

Yusiva Acosta was profoundly moved as she watched images of earthquake victims in Haiti on TV. Bodies were being pulled from the rubble, children were being rushed to makeshift hospitals and people everywhere were pleading for water and food.

The 13-year-old sponsored youth knew she had to help. It didn’t matter that she lived in a poor community in Barranquilla, Colombia – she wanted to do whatever she could to lend a hand. “The news caught my heart, seeing the people in Haiti who need our help,” Yusiva said. “Because today they are the ones who are affected, but tomorrow it could be us.”

Yusiva’s family couldn’t afford to part with any of their $170 monthly income, so she decided to go door to door in her community and ask her neighbors for food donations. “What surprises me the most about my community is that, despite the fact that we are from the poorest neighborhoods in Barranquilla, everyone has helped,” Yusiva remarked, “and they’ve added their own little grain of sand to this activity...”

What’s not a surprise is Yusiva’s initiative to help others. She’s benefited from leadership training through our Youth as Agents of Change program and is an active and very popular member of the local Youth Council.

Yusiva plans to deliver the food items to the local Red Cross office, which is receiving donations for later shipment. “I am very satisfied with what I’ve collected, [and] with the people who helped me,” she exclaimed. “Every day I see them I thank them for having trusted in me and for having contributed....”