Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Greeting from Honduras - From
Martha Myers
(click photos to enlarge)
It's
hard to capture this environment in pictures but it's a start.
It's a beautiful country with lovely people, but very few resources.
People make do in remarkable ways. The children at LAMB are a real
testimony to a better future for Honduras.
We're working harder than I thought I was capable of working, but it
seems to sort itself out each night when I sleep extremely well! It's
wonderful to mingle with the children are already living on site. They
wear these darling uniforms during the school day but change into
shorts and come out to watch (and join) us after school. They are
doing their part and doing so happily.
The
area where we are building the homes (a kind of campus, I suppose) is
very rustic. The children come and go freely - they live and
go
to school here, and more importantly, they are safe here. Despite the
hardship and unbelievable experiences some have had, they play as
children everywhere do. Little girls hold hands with each other. The
little boys use trash from the site as toys. Some are very shy - even
seem to be sad. Others are very gregarious. I'll never know what they've
seen or experienced that led them to this home and so I wonder about the
sadness. Maybe some of the newcomers are not quite sure how long this
safety and love will last. But they all seem to communicate the love
that they are receiving (and now giving) in this home environment.
The
actual construction is primitive by our standards. Today, for example,
some of us spent the day moving dirt from a huge pile into one of the
homes under construction. Moving dirt involves removing rocks, shoveling
it into wheelbarrows, removing more rocks, and then
rolling the wheelbarrow around to the other side of the structure, up
a narrow board into the rising home. We dump the dirt in a room and
return
the empty wheelbarrow for more dirt.
We ladies have developed a rhythm with
this activity. When one set of muscles gets sore from shoveling dirt, we
shift to moving the wheelbarrows in and out of the house. Once the dirt
is dumped inside a room in the house, two strong young men (one from St.
David's and one 15-year-old from Honduras) do the tamping - they pound
the dirt into the foundation. Jim did it for a while and tells me that
it is very hard work. These young me work
without a single complaint and even remain cheerful.
The
work is amazingly collaborative. Each person does what he or she can. We
are all encouraged to take as many breaks as we wish and we are urged to
drink lots and lots of water. The age range of the workers is from 5
year olds who live here to 70+ who come from Atlanta, and everything in
between. I've worked on group projects in the past where as you tire,
you begin to criticize one another. No so, here. Each person is clearly
doing whatever they can. Even a small load of dirt taken into the house
makes a difference, after all! It's really a model of teamwork.
Please pass along thanks to the St. Aidan's family for so many prayers
and and so much support. It is so appreciated by the Hondurans and it
is such an honor for us to represent St. Aidan's in this ongoing work.
I look forward to encouraging others to come in 2009.
I look forward to seeing you soon. Love to you all.
FHS,
Martha
