Day 7: Unexpected Gifts

Doña Clementina and Don Cupertino

Written by: Olivia Deeken

Today our team visited families in another region near Sibinal, called Chocabj (pronounced Cho-COW). We left an hour earlier today to accommodate the extra driving time and to catch the sun. Chocabj is approximately 40 to 45 minutes from the center of Sibinal along winding roads that hug the sides of the mountains. Due to the way Chocabj is located in the mountainside, it only receives clear skies and direct sunshine for a couple hours in the morning. Afterwards, the clouds roll in and everything is blanketed in a thick whiteness. 

The first family we visited was that of Doña Clementina. We first saw Doña Clementina and her children gathered around their new wash station. They geeted us with big smiles and showed us the newest members of their family. When she was asked to have photos taken of her and family with their new pila, Doña Clementina quickly excused herself and reemerged from her home dressed in what looked like some of her Sunday best.

Doña Clementina, like many of our families, takes great care and pride in how she presents herself and her home. This was evident when she welcomed us into her incredibly tidy and clean kitchen to show us her new stove as well - also constructed with funds from our generous donors.

As we made our goodbyes, Doña Clementina stopped our team and gifted Diana and Franco with two beautiful succulents potted in old, cut-in-half soda bottles. Then Aldo was also gifted with a pot of small, red flowers. As we thanked Doña Clementina, who has so little yet gives so much, I couldn't help but to selfishly think, "Where's mine?" I tried to shake off the greedy thoughts, but my mind began swirling with possible reasons why I wasn't "worthy" of a flower. Did I say - or not say - something wrong? Was I casting off some sort of offensive vibe? 

I slowly sloughed these thoughts off, and put myself in check, as we climbed high into the mountains to visit another family. There, I completely overcame my petty thoughts and feelings. When our team returned from our final home visit and was celebrating a successful descent down the mountain, my teammate came around his car and handed me a beautiful little succulent saying, "Here, this is for you." My eyes widened in surprise as I read the note attached to the succulent, "Es para la otra gringa va esta flor" which translates, "This is for the other white girl, goes this flower."

I was immediately humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude. Doña Clementina went out of her way to find our car down the road and leave a note. As we enter fully into the holiday season, Doña Clementina's generosity was a special reminder for me to cultivate an attitude of gratitude! Not only that, but that giving, especially of ourselves through our time or talents, is often the greatest of unexpected gifts there is.

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Don Carlos and Doña Maria

Written by: Diana Loera

7,555 Steps, 63 Floors, 3.41 Miles

That’s how long the trip up and down the mountain to get to Don Carlos and Doña Maria’s house took; something I didn’t think I would be able to do. Before heading up the mountain my teammate Aldo told me that it was a challenging climb and that he wasn’t going to sugar coat it for me....it would be hard. I asked him if it would be harder than the climb up from the bee farm a couple of days ago and he said yes.

I became concerned because that last climb was no joke! I huffed and puffed my whole way back to the car and could only imagine how much worse this time would be. I decided to go on the community visit and maybe stay behind while the rest team went up the mountain. When we got to the base of the mountain and we all got out of the car I thought to myself, “I wonder if I can do it?” “I wonder if it’s as bad as they say?” “What if it is too hard?” “What if it’s not?”

We stood around for a bit kind of contemplating the climb and Aldo, in a motivating voice said, “If you want we can get going and if you get tired and decide to just stop I can stay with you...don’t worry.” That was enough to motivate me to at least try. We started our climb and at first I thought, “Ok...you can do this Diana and if you can’t it’s ok, at least you tried.”

I huffed and I puffed but I listened to my body and rested every few steps. My teammates were so kind. They would stop with me, and would share stories and jokes to take my mind off the difficulty. At one point I contemplating stopping but, just as I did, I saw three young men carrying sand and rocks on their backs up to Don Carlos’ house to finish making the concrete floors.

It dawned on me... how many men did it take to carry all the materials needed for this project? How many times did they have to go up and down this mountain to get it all up there? This was mind blowing for me! There I was with nothing in my hands (or back) other than my hiking stick and there they went with sacks of heavy sand and rocks! I kept going. So glad I did. Once we turned the bend and I could hear people talking and children laughing I thought, “Oh my God... I made it!”

As we arrived, we were greeted by a man with a huge smile on his face. Don Carlos gave us a warm welcome, introduced his wife to us and expressed multiple times how grateful they were for all the help we were giving him. I don’t know if I wanted to cry because of his words or because I was relieved that I made it but, I felt so good.

At least 25 people were there. Men, women and children all doing their part in helping. Men mixing cement and laying it down in the house, women making lunch for everyone and children helping their moms or entertaining each other. It was a beautiful thing to see! Not to mention the beautiful views!

I wish all of you who have financially supported all these projects could see for yourselves the fruit of your support and the hard work being put into this. Families and communities coming together, men and women smiling because their family now have concrete floors, better functioning stoves, a place they can wash dishes and clothes and new roofs or walls to protect them from the elements. 

Thank you again for your kindness! P.S. I made it back down the mountain in one piece with a smile on my face largely because of the singing and jokes cracked along the way. Just need a little Icy Hot on these aching joints and I’ll be ready to go tomorrow!

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