An Amazing Experience

What an amazing experience this has been. As we sit in the airport awaiting our flights home, we have mixed emotions. We really look forward to getting home to family and friends who we miss dearly. We also miss some of the modern conveniences of the USA that we all take for granted like using water from the faucet to rinse our toothbrush and being able to flush paper in the toilet. But we also hate to be leaving the friends we have made on this trip – friends in Getsemani, friends from Habitat El Salvador, and friends from the other brigades that we spent so much time with this week. How different this is from returning home from an international vacation trip where you leave with memories of a country and its scenery, but seldom really get to know the people, and certainly don’t have the warm feeling of having contributed something other than your dollars to the place you are leaving.

To say it was hard work would be an understatement. While we may exert ourselves with exercise at home, not many of us in the US put in the kind of manual labor that we did this week. But before that frightens anyone from making this trip, what is great about a community project like this is that there is a role for everyone. The work can range from shoveling gravel and laying blocks to shuttling buckets of cement and tools, to teaching children math and English. Anyone with an open heart and giving spirit can offer something here in Getsemani.

Yesterday was a day filled with gratitude. How wonderful it feels to be thanked for an effort that you feel is really more of a gift to you. After numerous translated offers of gratitude from various members of the community and the homeowners we were working with, our friend Bruce from California said it well when he reminded the whole community of Getsemani that no, the gratitude is not due us rather that to us and that “it has been our HONOR to have the opportunity to support YOU.” It gave me chills when he said it and it does so again as I write it now.

It was our honor. These people have nothing by our standards in the USA. Most of the community has been living in mud or tin huts with no running water. The more fortunate ones have been able to find jobs as masons or security guards or as vendors in the local markets. If they are able to earn enough, they may be able to qualify for a Habitat house. They have to have some source of income as they will have a monthly mortgage payment of roughly $25 for about 15 years. Not everyone in this community can meet that standard today but they all work together in support of each other. Luis has been working on Habitat homes for 10 years as a mason and this week construction started on his home. Even the hot sun and cloudless skies could not get the grin off of his face this week.

Grins and laughter were everywhere. We never heard a person complain or a child cry this week. We heard laughter and quiet conversation. We listened to blessings and gratitude and on two separate occasions heard ourselves described as angels sent by God to help these people improve their lives. We listened to a wheelchair bound homeowner describe the feeling of having her first home in her life and watched her cry with joy as she shared her gratitude. One homeowner expressed her thanks and choked up as she said “thank you, thank you, thank you, God will repay each of you because I have nothing I can give you for changing my life”.

To have so little yet have so much happiness. This community has over 30 children who cannot attend public school because there is no room in the school and even if there was they could not afford the fees and the cost of uniforms. Yet the joy they express when given two simple days of attention and education from Natalie would overwhelm you. It overwhelmed us and Natalie. The kids hugged her like we hug our own children before they leave for an extended trip. We had a hard time getting them to let go of her. (Seeing all those hugs, I laughed and said I did not feel appropriately appreciated for my work this week so I had to get my mason Alex to share a hug with me.) Hugs are shared freely in El Salvador. They are a loving and giving people that make you feel welcome and at home. It is truly amazing that you can feel at home in a village with dusty roads, an open air thatched roof pavilion for meals and meetings, and an outdoor bathroom with no running water for us to share.

As everyone says about trips like this, we got more out of it than we gave. We are the ones who are thankful. We had an opportunity to be reminded of how blessed we are. Reminded of how it is better to give than receive. Reminded that we have too much that we don’t need and seem to crave more, yet others have less than they need to live a comfortable life or educate their children, and ask for nothing. Not once did anyone in this community ask us for money nor did they expect it. Despite the fact that what we spend taking a family to the movies could cover 2 months of their mortgage payments.

What gives them this comfort and joy in such deplorable conditions? How do they face each day not asking “why me”, or facing depression over their situation? How do they offer thanks for seemingly little as we roll in for a mere 5 days of exposure to their world? Faith. True, solid faith. Faith that is not hidden from view or shyly expressed when they look over their shoulder to make sure no doubters are watching. Faith that is painted on the streets across an entire city in painstakingly created artwork by children and adults, men and women. Faith that brings them from their homes in the middle of the night for silent, candlelit processions honoring Jesus. Faith that does not worry about being politically correct or worry about offending those with different beliefs. It was wonderful to witness.

So as I close, I say again, we were honored. We have much to be thankful for. There are so many in this world that have less than us and it may be overwhelming to think about how we can possibly make a difference. But I am reminded of the story of the little boy on the beach filled with thousands of starfish left on the sand by the receding tide. As he tossed them back into the water, a stranger asked him why he bothered, as his efforts in the face of thousands of starfish could not possibly matter. The boy tossed one more starfish in the ocean and replied “it mattered to that one”.

To our friends in Getsemani this Holy Week, it mattered.