August 18, 2010:
Today we went to kilometro 21 with Cindy. Dressed in scrubs and tennis shoes we headed over to the site at 9am. We had been told what it would be like, but it still didn’t compare to arriving there in person. We first turned into a long and bumpy road. At the entrance of this road was a billboard sign with a picture of a truck dumping off a load of trash near a huge pile of garbage. The dirt road was filed with potholes and the closer we got the stronger the smell got. As we were nearing the houses we saw many women and men picking up plastic, glass, aluminum, and other recyclable items. And among the workers were flocks and flocks of vultures with your occasional pig with its snout in a pile of trash. We also saw many dogs. However, these dogs were EXTREMLY filthy and they actually looked somewhat healthy. And by healthy, they weren’t so skinny that you could see every rib, they looked well fed.
The stench was worst at the middle of the piles of garbage and it’s a smell with so many mixes of horrible smells. It was sour, moldy, rotten, and so unexplainable. As we neared the first houses the smell was there, just not as strong. We did notice that as we went farther in towards the other houses the smell would disappear. Cindy told us that on hotter days the smell is almost unbearable. Cindy had promised many of them that she would bring them Bibles, so today we were there to pass out Bibles and to meet the different families. A number of families here aren’t your typical family. Some consisted of an older sister in charge of her younger siblings, a 17yr old with a much older man, a mother and father with a 13yr old pregnant daughter. Half of them spoke Spanish and the other half were from an unknown tribe that spoke no Spanish. The only way to get to them was to have their kids translate.
A great majority of the adults don’t know how to read and not all the kids go to school. So, it’s not that easy to explain to them about having a healthier lifestyle. Just from being there one day, we could see that this was no little project. One needs a lot of time, dedication, patients, and love towards the village to see some progress. Sadly because I’m part of the traveling team I don’t know how involved I’ll be with kilometro 21. There was so much that I saw that I don’t even know where to begin and I don’t think I have enough time to write about it all. Their houses are built from trash that is collected there, filthy dogs and pups roam around everywhere, the children are barely clothed and also very dirty, there are no bathrooms, the water that they use for everything is unsanitary and very brown, and the majority of them seem very content with the conditions that they are in.
To tell you the truth I kind of left the village hopeless. However, after a lot of thinking, I realized that I’m not here to turn a whole village around and save every child or pup that I see. I’m here to love them for who they are and if I can somehow get through them and show them a few things about a healthy lifestyle – I’ll be content. I want to love them just like Jesus loved everyone he encountered while he was here. No matter where they live, what they eat, or how they smell.
We finished our day with a little chill time, cooking supper (first time), and finally with culto (worship).
August 19, 2010:
The one crazy thing that happened today was this: one of the guys cut his hand, bad. When working with a table saw he got his middle finger tore open to the bone. Rushing into the pharmacy with his hand wrapped you could see the pain in his face. The doctor followed him with another six guys behind him. At first I was shocked and didn’t know whether to go into the crowded room and ask the doc if he needed help. Once many of the guys cleared out Rachel and I went in to ask if he needed assistance. We handed the doc his instruments and then he was set. It was so bloody but at the same time so fascinating. I watched him sow tendons back together and finally sow his finger shut.
So intriguing. I want to know more, learn more, and hopefully I’ll get to help the doc out in many more situations like this.
Oh and later that evening as I showered I counted every bite on my body. So far if you ask Rachel, I'm winning by like 20 or more ha ha. I don't like winning.
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