What seems little to us can be a lot for those in poverty.

Byline: Stephen Staszewski For The Register-Guard

Before I left for a trip to Peru during winter break, I decided to do some research about the country. My findings startled me.

Peru is a country infected with poverty. It ranks 87th in the world in income per capita. More than half of the country lives in poverty, and 13 percent of the people live in extreme poverty. About 55 percent of the people live on less than $2 a day.

Most of the poor in Peru live in the southern highlands and are isolated from many schools and medical facilities that could help them. There also is a lack of electricity, modern agricultural necessities, organization and infrastructure. These people are mostly subsistence farmers and care very little about educating themselves or their children. Many have very little hope of ever escaping poverty without outside help.

Poverty is nothing new to rural Peru, and some of those hardest hit are the children. Malnutrition has led to stunted growth and brain development.

I knew that I would not be able to go to Peru and ignore the problems surrounding me. So I decided I wanted to do something, however small an impact it might have.

I bought school supplies, candy, toys and nonperishable food for children, and placed them in little bags. I was able to make dozens of these bags, which then filled a big bag and I set off to Peru.

As I walked down the filthy alleyways of a rural Peruvian village, the poverty became unignorable. Beggars held out deformed hands and motioned for me to give them trinkets. An old, seemingly blind lady carried an obviously sick baby in a sling on her back. Another older woman without eyes mumbled incoherently on a bench. A little boy put his hand in my dad's pocket in a feeble search for his wallet, and I couldn't help but feel that this child's future is painfully clear. A teenage girl around my age held a baby in her arms and said over and over again, "Mommy baby! Mommy baby!" as she motioned that they were hungry. It was difficult to remind myself that it was Christmas Day.

Work, for those who can find it, is a never-ending reality for the poor in rural Peru. Peru is a very Catholic country, yet people were trying to scratch out a living even on their holiest day of the year. It was obvious that feeding yourself and your family comes first.

When I got to the village square, I opened the large bag full of the little bags I was carrying. As I started to hand out the bags, I was quickly swarmed by all the begging children. It was a sobering moment when I realized that it took just a few dollars to make child smile and bounce up and down in joy.

The children pleaded with me to give them bags to give to their sick friends, and it was hard to refuse. I did not have enough bags to give to them all. It nearly brought me to tears when I saw disabled kids who were not fast enough to claim a bag. If only I had spent a couple of more dollars to help a bunch more kids.

As I was leaving Peru, I thought about the children and I doubted I had changed their lives in any meaningful way. But I am certain they changed mine.

Stephen Staszewski is a freshman at Churchill High School. Submit a comment on this column, or check out Stephen's slideshow, at www.registerguard.com.