Today was our last day to build the house and I was certain it would be a difficult day to face. It rained last night and was still misty on the drive to Juma, I saw the second rainbow since arriving, it crossed the entire sky and actually touched the African earth - sadly there are no pots of gold at their ends.
Umbrellas and yellow slickers were everywhere as pedestrians and cyclists went about their daily treks. Homeowners swept their driveways free of the leaves and debris that accumulate overnight and the sun was nowhere to be found.
We stopped at a post office in Chisitu to purchase some stamps - stayed longer than anticipated as it is impolite/disrespectful to say 'keep the change' and the postmaster needed to send for some currency. This allowed for an opportunity for Meag to hold a baby on her back! Limbani noticed a lady with a 6 month old walking by and asked if she would be OK with it, then he called Meag out of the van and before we knew it she was strapped on.
Stopped at the Zofunazanu Grocery on route for some eggs - turns out it is the village of Nkanvo not Chitikale. We met Tadeo's roommate, he is a 17 year old orphan that has lived with him for the last 6 months. Tadeo is happy with him as he cooks, Tadeo buys the food and Kevin prepares it, he also added that his previous roommate stole from him but Kevin does not. He also said that living on his own did not work as everyday while he was at work (and his place was empty) his food and clothing would get stolen.
Someone made comment that there are even more children each day that run to the road to wave at us, Kevin pointed out that in this country - we are the monkeys.
At the site, I took the daily photo of our starting point on the house and then went behind it to snap a shot of some of the bricks with my gloves and trowel and was busted by Robin - he giggled at me, I was grateful he didn't see me bag up some of the broken pieces to bring home with me as a memento of our efforts. Spent the morning on a scaffold that was erected overnight for us. Had waves of emotions as this was our last day to work on the house and we know it will not be done. To use 'brick terminology' it feels pretty shitty.
Lunch was also emotional as reality hit me - when will Grandma get her next meal? (she gets our daily leftovers while we are here but prior to that she has gone days without food as she cannot garden or prepare her own and only eats if her neighbours have any leftovers to share with her).
This then led to thoughts of 'what will happen when Grandma dies?' and 'does one house even make a difference? and 'how can the kids be so happy and laugh so much when they have so little? (they have not changed clothes since we met them) and their distended tummies are a result of extreme malnutrition not baby fat.
And of course the biggest question of all - did we make a difference?
The sun made its first appearance of the day just then and I think that was God saying, "you done good here". Maybe our imprint, however small, will have a legacy to it.
The kids seemed extra clingy today too - they are aware that tomorrow's farewell celebration will be the end of our time together - the older ones sought each of us out and asked our ages - without missing a beat Vera became 29 again!
I sought out Tadeo to find out the answer to 'what happens when Grandma dies?' and was comforted to know that the house will still belong to the children - either directly or go to the family member that offers to care for them should they still be to young to manage themselves.
I was able to work a fair amount with Robin today again and was very happy to do so. It is very remarkable that we have created a house using: bricks, string, a dozen trowels and up until the scaffolds were nailed together about a dozen nails to hold the strings in place...engineering at its most primitive (and yet totally functional) design.
We were told that the layers we were placing would be covered with plaster and so I engraved 'love Dawn' on one hoping it would not be taken for vandalism as it would be covered up.
Babie announced time to 'knock off' for the last time and we gathered for a group photo, asking all of our local workers to join us, we also invited Grandma to join us and she insisted on changing her clothing for the shot. She may be poor but she is very proud :)
I was again grateful for my sunglasses throughout the afternoon and on the drive away from the village as my emotions did not stay in check very well.
Was very ironic that a couple km's out of Juma we met a young man bicycling towards us wearing a Team Canada Olympic hockey jersey.
Tomorrow we will visit a school and then have the farewell party and lunch in Juma, they plan to sing and dance for us and asked us to do something Canadian in return. You can imagine the ideas that were tossed around as we brainstormed 'what is traditional Canadian?'
In the end, we decide that since most of our audience will be children we will perform the Bird Dance and hopefully get everyone to join in and learn it too (it was that or the Hokey pokey).
xo
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Last day to build
link to photos:
