We finally arrived at PH and I noticed a small lookout on the second floor. A few minutes later, we heard the door unlock and an armed guarded let us in. I don't think I'm going to get used to seeing so many people with shotguns slung over their shoulders.
We were immediately greeted by the staff of PH that we'd be working w
ith for the week. Antonio will be our "leader." He will be with us during all of our projects and he'll always know what's going on. He will also be a translator. Antonio and his wife, Marilyn, are long term missionaries at PH. However, they will be returning home to New Jersey in a few months. The last group from Impact that came in November also worked with Antonio and I have heard wonderful things about him and Marilyn. We also met Miguel, who does not work for Potter's House, but is contracted by them. He will be our translator/bodyguard while we are out in the communities. We talked to Mandy for awhile during breakfast, she is the volunteer coordinator for PH. We also met Edwin and Erika, who will both be out on the work sites with us during the day as translators. PH will be providing all of our meals. We'll eat breakfast and lunch at PH and they will bring dinner to the seminary for us. I planned on losing weight while we were here, but judging by the amount of food they gave us for breakfast, I think we'll eat well. It was very strange when we sat down for breakfast because we were served by two women that work for PH. We all kind of looked at each other like we almost felt bad being served. There is no reason why we can't get up and get our own food and put our own dishes in the sink. However, these women are from the communities around the dump and PH has given them jobs here. I can tell that they take a lot of pride in their work, but it still seems strange. I didn't come here to be served.
After breakfast, our first stop was a spot that overlooks part of the dump. We are
n't allowed to actually go into the garbage dump. Last summer, there was a massive landslide during the rainy season and thousands of people that were in the dump were buried and killed. So for safety reasons, we will not be going inside of the dump. Although, it's hard to tell where the dump actually stops. I guess they consider the dump to be inside of the walls, but I don't think it stops there. Walking to the overlook was our first experience walking through a community. It was very overwhelming. The smell, the "houses," the poverty, the people, the despair, the amount of trash and filth EVERYWHERE. Lord, what did you get me into?? We arrived at the overlook and the sights were similar to what we were shown in pictures before we left...a lot of garbage, a lot of people, a lot of vultures and a lot of dogs. We stood there for probably 10 minutes, not really talking to each other at all..just watching people dig through the garbage. It was a lot to take in and process.
After leaving the overlook, we started our walk to the Anexo Nuevo Amanecer Community. This is where we will be building a house for the Hernandez family. This walk took us deeper into the communities. We stepped over men that were passed out on the stre
et-not knowing if they were dead or just completely high from sniffing solvent. We stepped over trash and dead animals. There are so many dogs everywhere. Some look like they are close to death, many are fighting with each other for food. A lot of children were starting to notice us and would yell "GRINGO'S" and come running towards us. Gringo's is obviously a slur that was used in the past, however Antonio said that the children don't mean it in a derogatory way. They really are excited to see us. Most of the people we passed greet us with an "Hola," "Buenos Dias," or a smile at the very least. Some people-mostly men that are high-asked for money. Some of the kids would ask for our bottled water or asked if we had food. We finally arrived in the co
mmunity and saw that they had decorated for our arrival!! They put up signs, balloons and streamers for us. They also set off firecrackers which really scared us because we were not expecting that! The leaders of the community-one man and two women-hosted a welcome ceremony for us. They introduced the community members to us and we introduced ourselves. We met the Hernandez family-Flora and Julio and their four children, Christian, Edgar, Veronica and Abigail. Flora and Julio are so thankful that we are here to build them a new house. Their son, Christian, has a lot of health problems and has been close to death many times. Because of that and other circumstances in her life, Flora has a very strong faith in God. On Sundays, she invites 40+ kids into her house (which is 18x22) and shares the Gospel and God's love with them. Their family has been praying for a long time that they would receive a new house from PH and He answered their prayers. The leaders of the community prayed for all of us and then it was time to get to work..they didn't waste anytime throwing us into it! We spent the rest of the morning filling the floor with dirt and scraping the walls in preparation for stucco. The mason we will be working with, Julio, already constructed the concrete walls last week. PH used
to have missionary groups do it but the walls always ended up messed up so now they hire a mason to do it! Many of the children from the community came by to check out the new Gringo's. They climbed on us, begged us to pick them up, and tried to do our jobs. Their spirits definitely lifted ours when we started to get tired. There are two girls, Berali and Brenda, that spent the whole morning with us. It is fun to try to communicate with them when we don't speak their language and they don't speak ours. They don't seem to mind though. There is something different about the kids that we met so far here compared to kids at home. They aren't like the kids in the US. There is a child-like quality that many of the kids in the US lose because of all the material possessions they have and the sense of entitlement that they have. These kids don't have toys, they don't have video game systems or bikes. They have nothing. Sometimes, they don't even eat. But they are still kids. They still think it's funny to tickle you and then run the other way. There is something very special about them.
We had to break to walk back to PH for lunch. I could tell that most of the team was frustrated about leaving because we were getting a lot of work done..but that's something that we, as Americans, have to get over. We are very task and time-orientated and here we need to worry more about relationships and ministering than making sure we get a wall painted before lunch. Lunch was very quiet today. I think we were all just processing what we had seen, heard and smelled so far. Not to mention, we were physically very tired! Becky started a new game at lunch today where someone thinks of an icebreaker question-either serious or funny-and everyone has to answer. I think it's a good way to get to know things about each other that we would not normally talk about. After lunch, we went back to the house to continue working. The kids were very excited to see us again and we continued with scraping the walls and leveling the floor with dirt.
Around 5pm, Antonio told us that it was time to head back to PH. For safety reasons, we must be out of the communities around that time. In the evening and night hours, there is a lot of violence and PH does not want to take any chances with us being there. During the walk back and on the bus to the seminary, we talked about how the day went. Personally, I was way too focused on getting the work done to start building relationships with Flora or other members of the community. It seems like that was the common theme with everyone else too. Even more, I didn't know what I wanted to say to Flora yet. Everything I saw was so overwhelming that I'm not even sure I know what to say yet. One thing is for sure though, I see God in Flora. She has a presence about her and I can see God working through her to do great things in this community. I hope I'm able to connect with her this week.
The cooks from PH brought dinner to the seminary for us and we all ate in the dining room together. After dinner every night we are going to meet to debrief about the day. We will spend time journaling, talking and praying as a team. Leah did not join us to debrief tonight because she was not feeling well. We said a lot of prayers for her health and hopefully, she'll feel well in the morning. Debriefing tonight was a surface-level discussion. I wasn't ready to get any deeper tonight because I don't know how I feel right now. I know that I'm very overwhelmed and having a hard time processing everything. It doesn't happen often, but I'm speechless. The rest of the team was having very similar feelings. Also, I'm having a hard time debriefing with other people. I like to process things by myself, in my head, not aloud with 9 other people. Debriefing as a team is really taking me out of my comfort zone, but I think the benefits will be much greater than doing it on my own.
After debriefing, our room went straight to bed. We were physically and mentally exhausted!
No comments:
Post a Comment