Habitat for Humanity- January 16th –28th, 2006
Elisa LeDesky
I came to Rio Hondo pumped to serve the people and build a house, but that didn’t end up happening. The night we arrived in Rio Hondo I sprained my ankle playing soccer with the kids and had to be on crutches for the entire two weeks of our habitat project. My heart was crushed. I had come to serve and to help, now the people I came to serve where serving me. Not being able to do anything was humbling and changed my perspective on my experience there.
Most of the time I was confined to sitting, which opened the doors to really getting to know the family my small group was building the house for, as well as neighbors, friends, and a lot of the community. Many locals often came to visit to see the house in progress and would ask lots of questions about our group- thus giving me a chance to practice my Spanish and meet wonderful people!
Being that I was given rides to and from the hotel, meals and worksite; I got to see a whole new side of my surroundings that no one else got to see. My nice chauffer Danilo often surprised me with detours to nearby mango plantations, rivers, waterfalls, and a sugar cane plantation where I got to meet workers making candies over a clay kiln and boiling tub of sugar cane juice. Little by little they’d pour the sugar cane juice into wooden molds with care. Another day I got to learn how to make tortillas by a beautiful older woman named Domingo Paz who has a heart of sunshine and was patient with my ugly tortillas! Meeting the people in a personal way opened my eyes and ears to life stories and new experiences that would never have happened if I had built the house.
God definitely knows how to surprise us and blow our preconceived expectations out of the water, doesn’t He?
