I really like this group. I wish I were a better writer so I could help you see what I see. I wish I could tell you in an eloquent way how when the right people’s paths cross in the right place - or just A place that invites interaction – it creates an intersection that can give you laughter on day one and camaraderie by day three. And, I wish I could show you how that intersection can enrich the soul. I mean, when it takes the whole table to figure out how to spell camaraderie, I feel like we’ve bonded.
Today, we moved the earth.
A lot of it.
It was our first work-day on the site, and we really attacked it. Dana and Debbie rocked some Rebar, Carly smiled so much while pushing every wheelbarrow of dirt, that another person (me) thought they could do it too! We were digging footings, moving so much rock, and, oh my goodness, shoveling dirt that may as well have been plates of spaghetti. It seemed the more we shoveled, the more there was!
But, it was a clear, breezy, 80 degree day and we had a gorgeous view of the mountains, so it felt like a gift to be sweaty and shoveling and laughing and doing.
We’ve just finished dinner, and I’m watching everyone talk across the table. I wish you could know what I know: how Jessie and I have the exact same birthday; how Cathryn and Shawn collect rocks and bugs on their travels; how we all cheered when Ken pulled a rock the size of his body out of a trench; how Allyson, Adrienne and Chris may be the only people on the planet who can spend five hours in a trench and look bright-eyed through the dust; how we all thought we might have gotten a tan today, and then we washed off all the dirt; how we are not masons; and how rocks can be recliners.
Finally, I wish you could meet the family that we hope our efforts will benefit. Don Victor and Donna Maria. Libny and Luz, which means light. The two homes we are working on will house Victor and Maria’s children. Because of financial circumstances, Victor and Maria are forced to live and work 5-hours away, in the capital city Tegucigalpa. As we circled up with them, I was humbled by the gratitude and smiles and direct sincerity that met each of our eyes, and I am truly grateful for the chance to serve human beings such as these.
So, as Daisy said this morning, “Faith is believing good things will come, and that dreams mean something.”
It feels good to be somewhere you feel you should be.
(This post was written by Jamie Hager. Jamie was a Habitat AmeriCorps in Greensboro and is now with Southern Energy Management.)