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The consistent right of every human being within every nation, every government through every period of history has been the right to dream. And the most consistent dream has been very simply for a better life. In the Barrio Super Banos of Guayaquil Ecuador. Yesterday was filled with

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sunlight and darkness and dreams and nothing more. There is a bridge between dreams and reality. A bridge that is hard to cross to make dreams into reality, takes shelter, food and water. Their need was water. The city, water supply reached only the fringes of the barrios

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and at least one member of the family had to walk miles to the source and wait every day, all day from sun up to sun down. It consumed his life. The reward was water. The penalty was time, time that could have been spent on health and

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education and a better income. And so they dreamed of a better life. But for some dreams were not enough, they were not content to keep an uncrossed bridge between a dream and reality. And so the Ecuadorian army initiated a plan to help them cross the most

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vital bridges of the barrios. His destination is to quench his thirst and the thirst of his family. Today, his walk is short. The military has brought the water to him and turned a shortage into a surplus. 10

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large tanks were erected in the barrios by soldiers. And each day the tanks along with barrels are filled with water by other soldiers of the Ecuadorian National Army. The purpose of the military civic action was to quench the thirst of

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the citizens. But there was a greater reward of greater thirst that was quenched. The thirst for time. Now, the hours that were spent in walking to distant water supplies were free. The walks were short and there was no endless waiting. What was done with that free

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time was more important than the concrete tanks in the iron faucets. They were only the symbols of people who cared. Now there was time, more time to earn a better income and to raise the standard of living of each family. More

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time to provide a little more food, a little more lumber for their houses, a little more light for their future. More time for education, more time to learn, the school rooms are open, the books are shared and the seats are filled. Some of the opportunities that

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passed by their parents and their youth would not escape their Children. The words that had gone unread in the past were absorbed in the present. The pencils that had gone unsharpened were writing lessons. The adult voices that were quiet, were sharing their knowledge. The small faces

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that greeted the soldiers at the water tanks in the morning, greeted pencils and paper in the afternoon. And there was more time for other things like helping those who needed help. Volunteers from all over the barrios learned how to give inoculation and after school, they helped

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rid the barrios of disease. Today, a soldier delivers water in the barrio super banos of Guayaquil Ecuador. Some of the dreams have been answered, not all of them, but as a man works toward his dream of a better life becomes

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more and more a reality. Today, a child learning instead of waiting today, an inoculation instead of a disease today, water where there was no water tomorrow, a better home and better streets tomorrow. Another dream and work for the day after tomorrow. The future of the barrios

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is made of wood, concrete iron and friendship. The man who uses his right to dream of a better life and then follows it is not alone. He lives with many neighbors who share that common dream for each neighbor. Each

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home, there is a bridge to cross.