I had the privilege to receive two guest in our homes in Nueva Suyapa: Reade and Lisa. They came for three weeks to live in Nueva Suyapa at the recommendation of some mutual friends, Ryan and Emily. My friend Maureen and I met Ryan and Emily on a bus coming back from Guatemala, but that is another story.
Reade and Lisa spent time learning how to live in Nueva Suyapa, did activities with the kids in our neighborhood, practiced Spanish and contemplated faith and life as they learned from the poor. They returned for another couple weeks in January. I pulled some quotes off of their blog to share here because I think that their "fresh eyes" and outsider's perspective give you a different glimpse of my life.
"So we decided to have another kids club today with the focus being on keeping our earth clean. People just throw trash everywhere, especially in the gutters, and don´t think twice about it. So we gave them each a trash bag and sent them out to clean up their neighborhood, with the promise of a freshly popped bag of popcorn as a reward when they brought it back. They were all smiles and had a great time." One of the activities we did with the kids
"All three of the kids are filthy and smell of urine. They live in the street most of the day and are in and out playing around the gutter (into which neighbors dump their latrines). G doesn't have diapers. She runs around in dirty underwear all day long since nobody changes or cleans her up. It was so sad to see a puddle on the ground under her feet the other day. She peed without giving a word of warning because she has nowhere else to go. It took at least a week of interacting with her before she began to show signs of recognizing when we were talking to her, and even more time before she said a word. Now, though, she knows our names and responds when we ask her questions. Mostly, she just wants to be held." Describing some kids from my block
"We were prepared that life in Nueva Suyapa would be different than anything else we had experienced, but it is hard to know what to expect without actually being here. The house we are staying in is by far one of the very nicest in the whole community, and we have it easy living here. Even so, it is like nowhere else we have ever stayed. Most of the houses here are made out of cement whenever possible. None of them have insulation where we live, unless you stuff newspaper in your walls and create it yourself. Roofs are mostly made out of aluminum. If you are lucky, as we are, you have an iron padlocked gate to your porch before you reach your front door, also equipped with a pretty sturdy lock. Our floor is cement and tile, but it is not uncommon for houses to have dirt floors. Many houses have a courtyard area outdoors, where you find your bathroom or latrine and the area for washing clothing and dishes." The living environment
"We were so sad to have to leave Nueva Suyapa for the second time in two months, but did we ever get a great sending off! The night before we left, we were informed that some of the kids had a party planned for us, and they wanted at least two hours of our time. So at 7:30 on the dot, we had a group of the kids ready to escort us to one of the kids' houses, where we piled in like sardines to the cheers and applause of many of our friends. There were decorations, speeches, dancing, and lots of food. Yes, they had pooled their money together and gone down to the local chinese restaurant (which I did not know existed before) to buy heaping quantities of arroz chino (Chinese rice... basically fried rice) and chop suey. I don't know how they managed to do that, but we were floored by the extravagant generosity. Plus, they asked Maureen to bake a delicious strawberry cake, which was a huge treat. The caveat, of course, was that we had already eaten dinner with a group of people at Chris and Mo's and we didn't realize that they would serve us plates big enough to feed a small village. We asked Anna if we could get away with eating, say, half the plate. Her response: "Um, you should probably try and finish it all. Just don't think about it and eat quickly." We thought we might burst by the end of the meal." Saying Goodbye
"In our short time here, we have gotten to know a lot of kids and some of their parents. We have desperately desired to transition our pity into compassion - the type of compassion Jeony models. Jeony has helped us understand why we feel so torn apart. He has shown us that people here need compassion and hope. But this has been very hard for us to achieve as it takes enormous courage, time, relationship building (or as Young Life calls it, earning the right to be heard), and a better command of the language so we can understand the depths of individual problems..... It´s so easy to pull down the shade, so to speak, and to block out the truth that is so real in so many places of the world, because when I think about it, my heart literally hurts. Tangibly. It is more convenient not to think about it. The problem is that I just can´t live this way anymore. I've been thinking about poverty a lot lately. It's something that I've always known has existed and felt genuine momentary sorrow over, but I had not felt personally connected to it before this year of traveling. I can no longer escape the constant ache that nags my heart..." Reflections on the Experience
No comments:
Post a Comment