Bathrooms

It's been a while since I wrote. Actually, I have been wondering why, myself. This past week, a volunteer, Jim, had come back to Porvenir to build a bathroom. He has built several in town and now when he raises enough money, comes back and builds more. This week, the bathroom week, was amazing. Building a bathroom for a family who before used their backyard. They literally did not have anything. Not even a makeshift. We spent the week in the scorching sun, getting down and dirty and becoming closer and closer to the family. I played soccer, tag, duck duck goose, among many other games with the kids in the meantime. We even ate together. One special afternoon they decided to make us pineapple juice...which led to everyone throwing up and very VERY sick afterwards.

 

Their house consists of dirt floors, cardboard and wood slab walls and bed sheets for dividers between rooms. A bucket was placed in the middle of the room one rainy day to catch the leaky tin roof. They had chickens, dogs and a rabbit living in their house, along with the 12 family members. One evening I was in the house watching and chatting to the mother making baleadas. She had a plug in hot plate on a crooked table and the heat was overwhelming. I asked her why she didnt have a window so the heat could escape and she said it was so mosquitoes didn't come in. (Why they though the bed sheet as a door was any different, I dont know) There we were, crammed in this little tiny space, sweat pouring down my face and I couldn't have been happier.

 


The next day I was taking a break under the shade and watching little Danni play with his dog, Mariposa. He was in the doorway of his house, so content. As I sat there watching him, I realized something. No longer did I think or relate him to poverty. No longer did I look at their house and see, actually comprehend their cardboard walls. I didn't Judge them for not having a bathroom. I saw past their wooden "couch". What I saw was a mother who loves her son. A girl coming home from school. A father helping build his familys first ever shower. They were just a family. An awesome, fun, deserving family. I realized that Im no longer "seeing"poverty. To me, this is just how it is. This is normal. This is life.

I dont see a difference between my house and theirs. I see a family, siblings, and love, just like mine. We are all the same.  All made by the same loving creator.

1 John 4: 7-8

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.