Friday, March 23, 2012

February 22nd, 2012- Recalling Honduras

Our first full day of work in Zambrano began with an early (6:30 am) breakfast of dry toast and some cereal as an additional option.  They also had fruit nectar in cans, which were also common in Mexico.  They taste like the actual fruit they come from.  After breakfast, Ed drove us over to the work site in Zambrano.  We will spend the first two days at the future home of the Zambrano public high school.  A few of the rooms already have cement flooring.  Our goal is to put in a floor for one large room (to be divided into three rooms) with cement.  Ed suggested we be careful where we walk.  There were a few places, in the untouched rooms, where people had deficated.  Ed commented that animal poop doesn't bother him, but people crap does a little.  We began by moving sand, gravel, and fill, via wheel barrow across a canal, traversed by three planks of wood, and formed new piles closer to the future cement mixing site.  While we began the work process, Val made sure that we also divided ourselves into half hour shifts of prayer walking around the site.  There is some gang activity in the area, and this is the best way to confront those issues.  I took my walk at around 10:30 in the morning, wandering around praying for the rooms and the surrounding area.  I wanted to really walk around town, but having been warned against that, stayed within a quick walk of the school house.  Theft is a huge problem in Honduras (another missionary would later refer to it as the "national pastime") and so when we went to have lunch at the Schubert's, a few of the men stayed behind.

The Schubert home is behind two metal gates, one opening to the general property and the gardens owned by the Schubert's landlord, and one which provides access to the Schubert's home itself.  It is a simple, but very beautiful home: stone floors, high wooden ceilings, a woven hammock, toilets where you can flush the toilet paper, and the perfect place for picnic, underneath a simple shelter.  The house is also full of pictures, and I enjoyed a careful study of several of them.  Our lunches, consisting of subs, a bag of chips, and gatorade were quite satisfying after a hard mornings work.

The afternoon featured the beginnings of our cement work.  I volunteered to be "water boy," in the hopes that I would have steady work and would not have to deal with extended periods of nothing to do.  My task was to keep a 55 gallon bucket full, which, in turn was used to feed the cement mixer.  I got the water from a "piela," which was a large cement above-ground pool of water.  I was assisted in this work by Marta, a Honduran woman whose home we will be working on later in the week.  Her husband was a man named Celan.  We were told that Celan is basically unemployed, though he works as a day laborer, and when there is a team, he does not seek work, but rather works alongside the team.  He does this out of gratitude for the work the team's, and the Schubert's, do on his house.  We were all very impressed by this, and by Celan's incredible strength.  He was always demanding that his wheelbarrow be filled to the brim.  "Celan is muy puerto," was one of the first Spanish phrases I cobbled together and one that I returned to often.  As we worked, Marta and I talked about our families, particularly our young children.  Celan and Marta's son is about Elinor's age, and is being tutored alongside the Schubert's daughter Cheynece, an excellent opportunity to be sure.

We worked well into the heat of the afternoon.  Arms weakened, energy began to wane, and hands became raw with the repeated lifting of five gallon buckets.  The end of work was greeted with open arms by me.  I spent time picking up around the work site and throwing rocks at coffee can lids with Blake Lewis, Chris' son, and our youngest team member.  We also watched Ed do the troweling and smoothing of the cement, the last task of the day.  It was nearing dark when we returned to Casa Santiago.

We were given time to shower.  While it had been advertised to us that Casa Santiago had hot showers, in reality it seemed that one was hot and the other cold.  Gary Bickel and I where in the bathroom at the same time, and he allowed me to take the hot shower.  What a guy!  After supper, Gary, Allen, and I watched a little TV.  It was all in Spanish, except for a few movies, and somehow seemed superfluous, as big a role as TV plays in my life at home.  Just didn't seem like I needed it there.  Craving another comfort from home, Coca-Cola, I asked our hostess (an English speaker) if she would translate for me to purchase some at a local store.  It seems that Coke is available everywhere, if signage is to be any indicator.  Initially, she agreed to this, but it was ultimately decided that the good stuff could be delivered.  I paid four dollars for three two liters.  Not bad...  The evening ended with a fine supper, devotions and prayer, and then off to bed with little ceremony.  Tomorrow's going to be a tough one, and we all need our beauty sleep...

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