Children International Communications Coordinator, Leo Montecinos shares some uplifting views on post-earthquake Valparaíso.

The earthquake of February 27th left evidence of many of our shortcomings. Many are still without lines of communication, electricity or water, even three weeks after the terrible event. Nevertheless, in these days we have also discovered some positive signs, which I would like to emphasize: 

- A few days after the earthquake happened, in the streets of our cities, we Chileans witnessed a notable occurrence: many families raised the Chilean flag in front of their homes. I must point out, that under normal circumstances, Chilean law states that the flag can only be flown on our Independence Day. This spontaneous act got the media’s attention. “The flag gives us optimism and happiness. It raises our spirits. We must fly it to the hilts, so that Chile can fly again too,” said one citizen upon being interviewed by a local television station. And it’s true – walking through the streets and seeing the homes with their flags makes us happy.

- Another outstanding occurrence is that the local television channels quickly organized and came together to start a campaign to raise money. After 24 hours of uninterrupted transmission, they doubled the amount of money they were hoping to collect! The media, the local artists who participated in the show, private companies and individual citizens made this dream possible.

- Finally, I’d like to point out the countless people who decorated the windows of their cars with messages like “Be Strong Chile!”, “Let’s Go Chile!”, and “Go Chile!” These are messages that we have been able to read everywhere, and without a doubt, we are slowly achieving our goals. Still today we see these cars pass by, and we feel elated.

This is the Chile that we are experiencing now: A patriotic Chile, full of solidarity. A Chile that we hope lasts forever, because, this is how we like our Chile.

You too can still help raise Chile’s spirit. If you’d like to make a donation to help rebuild and repair the homes of sponsored children in Valparaiso, please visit our Emergency Alert page.