Day 2
Hola-
Wow...what a day. I just have got back to my room. Today was one of the most amazing days of my life. We left the hotel this morning at 7am and drove approx 4 hrs to the village / ADP (area development project). First of all, along the way I saw small huts that I just couldn't imagine anyone living like that. We had to drive through creeks and down horrible roads to get to the ADP. When we arrived at the ADP we met with the world vision staff & they explained to us what they were doing in the area. Today's village was an area where World Vision has recently starting working, so it hasn't developed much yet. Tomorrow we will see a more developed village where WV has been working for at least 5 years. The people there should be more established. Just to tell you a little about our visit:
We met a family that had come to the WV clinic to seek help for their 2 twin daughters that were 19 months old. The girls were malnutritioned and had open sores. The WV clinic is assisting to their needs. It was so sad, the parents of these 2 girls walked 3.5 hrs to get to the clinic. They lived at the foot of the volcano & had to leave early to get there. We then went to visit a few families. The first family were potters, WV had set them up and trained them to do pottery to sale. They had 2 girls- Sarah & Brenda (age 5 & 8 / the girls in the picture). They gave me a tour of their one room hut that was made from straw, palm tree limbs and some mud. She & her sister shared a hammock while her parents had another hammock approx. 3 feet away. The small hut was approx 8' x 8'. This was culture shock to me... I was speechless. My heart has surely been broken in a way that it never has before. We then left there and visited another potter. The lady there said that it takes her 5 hours to make 1 pot. On a good week she could make $16 for her entire family from this business (given that there is no rain & weather permits her to work). I asked the staff if I could buy a pot to help her out. She normally gets $0.75 per pot & I only had a $10 bill. They would not allow me to give such a large amount for only 1 pot due to the fact that it could cause a negative effect with her wondering why I was giving so much for 1 pot. They would want tourists to come there more. I ended up giving her $20 for every single pot that she had completed. This was more than she could have made normally. $20 is currently approx 2 weeks salary for her family. They were so thankful for the business & they insisted that they delivery the pots to our bus. WOW- such grateful people. It was the highlight of my day. To think, the $20 bill in my pocket that I gave to this family was equal to a 2 week's pay check. I'm still not sure how I will get all of these boxes of pots home, but I will figure it out. Surely my prayer has been answered only on the second day. My heart has been broken & this has been a life-changing experience & it's only the 2nd day. Please pray for our group (all of us, we have 13 total on this trip). Ernie with Heirline & Johnny from Safe Harbor are here as well (to name some of the Southern Gospel Bunch). We also have a worship leader & some drama teams. Truly some amazing people, there is such a sweet spirit here with these people. I have surely enjoyed our bus rides to the different places, just getting to sing & worship on our way. Please keep praying that God will continue to move in my life just as HE did today. I love the children so much & would love to bring them home with me. I played with them today & they all smile so beautifully.
Well, I better hit the sack, the day starts REALLY early tomorrow!
I love you all-
Barry
