Raw Extremes...

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Have you ever sat in your house, perhaps your living room, with the big screen TV or other simple luxuries, and wondered what is the exteme opposite of your life. Normally, we in the middle class contemplate with question with a view towards the super rich, their lifestyles and homes intrigue us and even entertain us, but how often do you ponder the extremes in the other direction. Today I/We visited that place...the raw extreme opposite of our life in Canada...La Chureca, the dump.

Now I have been to the dump before, at least the Canadian version, but nothing could prepare us for the sights and smell of literally acres of garbage, much of it burning, raw mounds of garbage, literally for as far as the eye can see. It was literally, as one student aptly called it, an apocalyptic scene. Garbage piles lined the road way, 15 - 20 feet high. When you could find a high spot to climb about the garbage, all you could see was garbage, literally for a far as the eye could see. In the frame, as you can imagine it (or for those who can't check out the pictures) were people, yes, people, sorting through the garbage, picking our items of value. Keep in mind this is the garbage of a the 2nd poorest nation in the western hemisphere. In the distance you could make out a garbage truck, moving slowly on road of garbage on top of the piles, the driver, likely having just traded the right to pick through the garbage of his truck in exchange for the innocence of a little child, perhaps even one of the little girls we played with today. This place was truly apocalytic.

As you glance through that frame, you can also make out, dotted among this this landscape of sun drenched piles of garbage, homes.... hmmmmm.... homes. While not by our definition, but certainly homes to the people that lived there. These simple shelters, combinations of branches for posts, and pieces of metal or plastic, but more often just cardboard for walls. Typically the roofs were pieces of cardboard covered by some form of plastic, held in place by an array of heavy items. Inside, these shelters was darkness, illuminated only by the cracks of light between the metal or carboard, an uncovered hole in the roof or by the open door. More than once these dark shelters seemed like a metaphor for the whole place. We worked on these homes today, making the walls and roofs more waterproof in preparations for the torrential rains, just a few weeks away. While this was rewarding work, our successes today (if I can call them that) can't possibly make a difference in the vastness of the acres and acres of La Chureca. Yet, this was indeed, making a difference for the few homes we touch. It is the 'starfish' principle (ask later if you don't know the starfish principle)...it made a difference to the homes and people we did touch today.

In addtion to tarping houses, we created shelters around their rudimentary toilets (toilets are a developing theme on this trip). I cannot begin attempt meaningful description, but at best, a simple outhouse, a hole in the ground, but without privacy, so today we created privacy. It is amazing, as Mr. Peters points out below, that dignity is not lost in this place. If you go through their homes, they put up pictures, cover their tables with old pieces of material for table cloths, and the children draw pictures of grassy fields, sunny places and houses on hills, not garbage dumps. The people here at La Chureca, have dignity, they dream, and they create beauty in a place where beauty seems impossible.

As an aside, I cannot imagine this place in the rainy season. The dust that today covered our body, whipped against us by the heavy winds, would be turned to mud, and the leaching from the garbage, combined with the mud...unfathomable....a raw extreme.

If bleak seems like your view of what I have written so far, let me turn the tables. First of all, La Chureca is a community, a community of people who share a common reality and embrace their lives there. Secondly, was this school, right in the middle of all the garbage and squalor was this bright shiny school. Inside the walls of that school was education, love, hope and belief. The school, run by Hope and Heart was providing just that.

Then there are the children of La Chureca; bleak certainly is not the right term. They are children with happy faces, game playing spirits and contagious smiles. When we debriefed as a group tonight, I asked an open ended question about La Chureca. I simply asked for a reflection. Virtually all my students spoken of the children first, not the bleakness (ok I know bleakness is likely not a word) of the place. The speaks to two amazing details; first the children of La Chureca are like children everywhere, they bring us joy, they make us feel young and cause us to consider the future. Second, our students, noticed and made human connections in a place where human beings shouldn't be, much less children.

But...I have said alot....below are some reflections of the team. In case you are wondering I am asking different team members to blog each night.

Reflections of our Group on Raw Extremes:

Myeisha:

Since the beginning of this trip we have been subdued and humbled at the sight of the condition many of the children here call their life. We are thinking about all the things that we have but don’t necessarily need and we are feeling horrible about the lifestyles we lead. I find it ironic that these children are so happy with their few possessions and are so willing to be vulnerable and open with us no matter what their past, when many of us often feel self pity, looking at what the other has, jealousy, greed, conceit. It would seem that the more we have the more unsatisfied and self centered we become. At the end of this 10 day “Visionary” stint, we can go back to our families, our homes, our other loved ones and friends, but these children are here to stay for a long time, and whether we agree to acknowledge it or not, it will possibly be the rest of their lives. That is what has subdued us: That they seem to be so hopeful in what we view is a state of hopelessness.

Mr & Mrs. Peters (Gerry & Lonna)

Maybe it was just me, but there seemed to be a tension at breakfast this morning. Perhaps tension is the wrong word. A nervous anticipation. We boarded Jose’s bus and within 20 minutes of the villa found ourselves arriving on a different planet. A foreign land called La Chureca. The final leg of this short journey included the familiar sights of the neighbourhood that boarders the city dump. This is where we enjoyed a lively and very loud Nicaraguan church Service last Sunday. I recall during that service getting the odd whiff of garbage. Now as we rounded the last corner and onto what I assume is a dead end road there was that smell again. This time though, it was stronger and as Jose negotiated his little crowded bus around countless obstacles that smell intensified. So strong was the stench and so unprepared were we, that some on the bus fought back vomiting. We drove on past a weigh station and things became surreal. It was as if we were approaching the gates of hell. Mountains of garbage as far as the eye could see. Acrid smoke from countless fires. Dust. Stench. Cows competing with goats and dogs for any edible morsel. This, in a place where nothings grows. Barefooted children walking on their way to nowhere.

It was quiet on the bus and we each wrestled with the emotion of this place. Yet, in the midst of all this, an oasis. A school where children in crisp clean uniforms laughed and played. These were the children of La Chureca and it will remain a mystery how in the midst of all this filth those shirts could get so clean and white.

And the homes, made of tin and plastic, tied together with strips of cloth. As we walked past one such home, a man stood at the door painting his door emerald green with a brush that I would have discarded long ago. He smiled when we gave him the thumbs up sign. We smiled back. Pride was even here, and hope in the eyes of those children. Here in this place where no dog should live let a lone a human being.

Time to work. Tarping houses, rebuilding outhouses and best of all, loving up those kids! Dirty, sweaty, beautiful little children. Instant smiles, hugs, acceptance, warmth. They offered us these things freely and openly. We had a chance to hand out shoes to the kids. Allison braided hair and painted nails. It was tremendously rewarding. Parents, you would have been so proud of your children. Each and every one of them has opened the hearts to the people of Nicaragua. They have worked in deplorable conditions with energy and enthusiasm. Each one of them will come back changed.

Tomorrow we are going back to LaChureca and we can’t wait!

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Comments

[Rhonda Kemp]

Speechless!!!
As a Grandmother of one of those outstanding,amazing young people, I am overwhelmed by their strength and character. It is hard to put into words the feelings as I view the pictures and read the very incredible stories. May God richly bless and encourage each one of you in this absolutely "life-changing" experience. P.S. I love you Allison "big time".

[grammy]

As another grandmother, I am overwhelmed by the pictures and stories and also so very proud of all of you. I know it will be an experience you not soon forget. You will come hoem stronger and better for this knowledge. Well done! Love ya, tianna. Grammy