|
|
 |
ROCKS, CONCRETE AND THE DUMP
by Lindsay England
Happy Canada day to everyone back in Canada. We were sure to sing O Canada on our way to the work site this morning. Although I'm not too sure how well it was sang considering we were on a bus going over several potholes, and speedbumps, it was fairly early in the morning, and some of us had barely woken up. First thing on the schedule for today aside from singing O Canada of course, was the work site, for a solid 4.5 hours of churning concrete, and passing rocks. Once finishing what we had to do for that day on the work site, we headed out to the garbage dump. I had gotten quite a few descriptions of what the dump was from several team members who had been there before, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when we got over that hill. We were literally driving over garbage, and honking at pigs and dogs to get out of the way. First what we did was walk around the dump and give out fruit we had earlier used our outragous bargaining skills to buy, we then proceeded to brush and braid girls hair, play soccer with the boys, and hand out several shoes. While handing out the fruit, you didn't even have to say anything to them, and they were so delighted to recieve the fruit, I recall one person saying "Praise God" all for a piece of fruit. When the shoes started to be handed out it was overwhelming to see how many people needed shoes, and how they all swarmed the bus to try to get them. Some children kept coming back for more saying they had earlier gotten shoes for their siblings and were back for shoes for themselves. After we braided their hair and played soccer with them they were so unbelievably appreciative. Just seeing how people who have so much less than ourselves yet are way way way more thankful and appreciative than us really shows you just how blessed you are, and feeling jealous of something that someone else has is just silly. Overall, a fantastic and eye-opening experience today that I pray that you all will some day be able to experience.
|