The Glass Half Full of Floodwaters

Perspective (n): true understanding of the relative importance of things; 

a sense of proportion.

I realized that, really, when I have talked about what I want to gain from this experience, perspective is the ultimate goal.  I could write post after post about the things I want to learn, the reasons why I came, the challenges I have had so far.  And I have written those posts.  I like those posts and, from what I've heard, so do you.  But, when it comes down to it, all of this can really be summed up as a quest for perspective-- an attempt to gain a true understanding of the relative importance of things.

Most big adventures, I think, are just that.  People putting themselves in a completely different place because they want to see what the world looks like from somewhere new.  I'm certainly not saying you need to jump on a plane and move 8000 miles away for 2 years to gain perspective, because I do firmly believe you gain a bit of perspective with everything you do and everyone you meet.  But if you want a big dose of it all at once, put yourself out of your comfort zone and spend some time with people whose daily reality is different from your own.

This past Saturday, at 8 am, I loaded up on the school bus with five other teachers and 26 of the students in Form Three.  We drove for a little over an hour to get to our destination-- a small village of people who had been displaced by a flood almost 2 years ago.  Still living in what were supposed to be "temporary" shelters, this community of around 200 women, men, and young children welcomed us in.  We gathered together under a long, open sided structure made of wood and corrugated metal.  Laundry hung along lines on one end, children sat around the edges on the ground, spinning bottle caps and chattering quietly.  An older mama in the village began to tell us their story.  Different adults would chime in from time to time-- talking about the many challenges they had faced and answering questions from students.

After our introduction, the girls split up into small groups and went to go help individual families with whatever needed to be done.  They played games with the dozens of kids that were hanging about, washed dishes, talked to the families in their homes, helped work in the garden, and went to fetch water.  I started off going with a few students as I definitely felt like I needed a translator.  But, as I was the only one who had brought a camera, I ended up hustling from group to group snapping pictures.  This was great because I ended up getting to meet a lot of different families, take a lot of pictures, and talk to a lot of the girls about their perspective.

I spent the walk back from getting water talking to an incredibly insightful student who said, "I'm really happy to be doing this.  Some of it reminds me of home, like going to fetch water.  But, really, my life is very good,  Very easy.  You know, we complain about our lives being difficult until we see what real difficulty is."

I'm sure when I look back on my experience here, there will be some moments that really stand out as "defining".  There will be some moments that give me a better sense of proportion than others.  I really do think this trip and, specifically, this conversation will be one of them.

I realize that this was a little more serious (less entertaining) than the usual post, but I had a lot of thoughts on this and felt it was important to share.  I also took around 200 pictures in the 3 hours we spent there and I will be posting some of them to my Facebook, as blogger isn't the most picture-friendly space.  I think some of them turned out pretty well, so take a look if you're interested.

Until next time,

Carolyn