Week 4

Hey well this is the entry for our fourth week in Comi. I added and album on facebook with some selected photos from our time here. They have captions to kinda explain it all, check em out!

Here is the new blog entry:

Last week marked the end of our stove project, so this week kevin and I began work on updateing and upkeep of the farm we are lving on. The first task we took on was creating a steam shower. I spoke about this a bit last week, but the previous one had tons of leaks. This week we took the whole thing apart and cleaned all the fittings and put it all back together with new pipe glue. This took us the better part of 3 days. Unfortunately tuesday, the water stopped working in our Aldea (aka village) of Los Bujes so we couldnt test for leaks. Last week it was the power this week its the water. In speaking with our host mom this happens from time to time, last year the water stopped working for 3 months! Hopefully it wont be that long. I am worried though, because as I speak the water still is not on. Luckily we are able to use the water from the catchment system we fixed for cooking and washing.

We took most of thursday to walk around and kinda explore more of the area. Maybe it was the culture shock or maybe it was me expecting the bad conditions that caused me almost overlook the poverty here for 3 weeks. The roads here are unpaved and when it rains you end up with huge ruts in the road. Most families (parents, children, and their children) live in two room shacks with dirt floors and leaky tin roofs. Its a luxury to have and outhouse, let alone a hole in the ground. People farm to survive here, and only about 2 % have enough crops to actually sell. This isnt the farming you are used to seeing in the states either, we live in moutainess terrain and most people here farm literally on the side of mountains. Kevin and I are often winded on our walks from town to town, but we seriously get passed by ederly woman with a child on their back not even breaking a sweat.

Perhaps that is also why I don´t notice the poverty here as well. Everyone seems to accept it. They truly love life here. People always great you on the streets with a smile. The kids in our host family don´t complain that they have to share a bedroom with their sister mother and two brothers. They don´t complain that they get to shower once a week to save water. They see cards as the most exciting thing to do during the day. They go to school and then work in the field for 4 more hours, then do homework. And they are so happy every day. Suffering, or what we in america might consider suffering, is a way of life here, its what these people grow up into. They accept bad teeth, parasites from bad water, upper respiratory infections and asthma in 2 year olds from cooking, fleas in their bed, and the struggle to put food on the table every night, as normal life. In meditating on these things I thank God for the many gifts that I never even considered gifts until now. It pains me that I was ignorant to these things for so long. It bothers me that I have complained about not having my own bathroom, having to take out the trash, not getting a car at 16, or not getting to eat what I wanted for dinner.

I am sure I will still complain about these kinds of petty things when I get back, perhaps that is a blessing and curse. I ask those of you who do read this blog, to maybe take the time tonight to be thankful you have clean clothes, food on the table every night, hot runnnig clean water, and the family you have around you. Many others are not so blessed. Don´t feel guilty for these things, but rather just don´t take them for granted.

Ok, sorry for the seriousness of that, but its something I feel I shouldn´t hold back. I have been struggling with the thought of if I am even doing enough here. The defintion of enough here is so vague. We want to help in every way possible, but sometimes aid is so misdirected here (thats a whole new discussion I´ll save you). I know that part of my job here is to observe and spread my knowledge, and I wouldn´t be doing it much justice without my previous words.

On a much lighter note Kevin and I are heading to base camp of Tajumulco tomorrow morning. We will be making the 2 day climb to the summit, which is the highest point in Central America. On a clear morning you can see all both the Pacific and Carribean. Again I want to thank all of you who donated for allowing me to chance to experience these things as well provide fund some of our projects. We also did a Mayan Sauna last night called a Chuh, it was the hottest sauna I have ever been in, it was basically a small conrete box that you heated up with hot coals and fire. Then you poured water on the coals to create steam. You then used aloe leaves for you skin. I felt, well I dont know how I felt, but the kids loved it and it was a good bonding experience for us and the Family.

Next week we will present our new project of either grey water treatment (which will allow people to use their wash water for irrigation), or catchment systems (for collecting rain water for the dry season). AMMID, our NGO, will decide what and where is most needed in the community. Wednesday Kevin and I will leaving Comi to head to Honduras to take a personal trip. We will return the weekend of the 4th for 4 more weeks of work.

Adios and Asta Luego