The day we started the construction of the bridge over the Las Piedras stream, Joel, a 14-year-old inhabitant of the neighborhood, approached the site. He wanted to participate in the project, but we explained to him that, since he was a minor, that was not possible. He insisted, saying that he could at least help serving mate or water. We decided to go and talk with his parents so as to obtain their authorization. “My son knows I don’t want him to go, he knows what that bridge means to us,” his mum told us. We found out then that, seven years earlier, one of the family’s youngest children had died in the stream, swept away by the current. In spite of the pain, Joel’s determination made his mum and dad join the construction. “My brother’s death caused people to care more about this situation; it made neighborhoods join forces to work together and build a new bridge,” was his reflection one of those working days. They say that constructing from pain builds things in a different way. This time, in the form of a bridge over a stream.
