Resilience

This blog post is less an update on what we've been doing, but a brief reflection of how much I've been continually in awe by the resilience shown by these amazing people. Today a group of us worked for the third straight day in the neighborhood of Jubilee, helping put up a roof for a home with wood and corrugated tin. The home, made from makeshift cement and mud dried to a rough wooden frame, measured maybe 10'x15' and will house an entire family of likely 5+ people. It was very hot today, and I spent a moment reflecting on how I spent the last few summers with only a window AC unit dreaming of the day when I will have central air, and was instantly humbled by considering how different my life would have been if I had been born in these circumstances. We spent most of the time without much in the way of translation with the other young men helping us put up the roof, but it's amazing what you can accomplish with a common purpose.

While operating a medical clinic and setting up roofs are tangible ways we are helping these people, I think perhaps the interactions with residents, especially the children, in between these events are what will stay with me- and hopefully them- for a long time. Behind the smiles and laughter and banter between the children hide a world of immense poverty and hunger. But it's these smiles and laughter that we're able to create, by letting them chase us and hold our hands and climb on us like we're a jungle gym and let them run their hands through our hair, which connect us as human beings and allow us to share a few minutes of joy together. Their smiles come so easy, and how they are able to continually live and struggle and perservere is a trait I can only dream to aspire to.

At one point today while working on the roof, a young boy came up to me and stood at my side clutching my leg. After exchanging smiles and a "bonjour," he noticed my arm hair and started rubbing his hands up and down my arm and looking at with me amazement. Of course, I started rubbing his arm too, completely devoid of hair, to a flurry of giggles. We then put our hands together, and it seemed like a sudden realization came over him that we were both people- with the same amount of fingers and a thumb- which we then used to hold a piece of wood on each end while another ORRer cut off a piece for the roofs.

In peace,
-Chris