Day 3

This morning my team was on community service. We drove out to one of the colonies and were put straight to work. Our first job was to move 1,000 bricks to a lady's yard so that we can build her a toilet. Doesn't sound too hard, right? Well it shouldn't be, unless you are transporting your bricks on little metal bowls.

I could only carry 3 or 4 bricks at a time, they were heavy. I have never sweat so much in my entire life. It's hot and extremely humid here, not my ideal environment to do physical labor.

But after a few hours we eventually got the bricks moved into the yard.

 

We were given a small break when a few of the local men cut off the tops of coconuts for us so that we could drink the juice. It wasn't my favorite but it was fun to try it.

Our next assignment was to move a large pile of sand so that we can later mix cement. Again, shouldn't be too difficult. But we used our little metal pans to fill bags that we carried over and dumped into the new pile.

I wish I could say that it was a wonderful experience and that I loved it. But that would be a lie. It was hard. I have never worked so hard in my life. I have never been so tired. And it was hard not to be frustarated. It was frustrating that we were using tiny pans when I knew that we could load everything into a wheelbarrow and cut our time and efforts in half. It was frustarting to have sweat dripping off my face while local men sat in the shade holding their drinks and watching us. It was hard to have someone demanding us what to do next without any positive feedback.

But I had one moment that made it all worth it. We were moving the bricks into the elderly woman's yard and she came outside with the biggest smile on her face. She brought out pictures of her with past volunteers and proudly showed them to us. Then she took us into her 2 room home and showed us the few possesions that she had. She turned around and embraced our faces in her small hands with her big granny smile.

I could feel her gratitude and her act of kindness made every frustration worth it to me.