Lo, the Beloved Campo

I have now been back in La Campa for a week. I came back this time with resolve to get started on something, whatever that may be. In my place of work thats not so easy because its a very small office where everyone travels from nearly every day to visit far-flung communities and participate in projects. Often I end up tagging along, laughing at the humor that I miraculously and joyously now understand, eating the chicken soup delicacy at lunch, and maybe leading the campesinos (as) in a nice little game or two. Other times I stay in the office so that I can feel like I´ve gotten something productive done. Sometimes that works out for me, and sometimes it doesn´t. As you may be able to tell, I´ve been struggling recently with feeling in the least bit useful here. A couple of days ago I felt like doing even a fraction of what I had originally envisioned was going to be nearly impossible.

So I started praying for signs that my presence was meaningful. Probably something I should have been doing all along, but this is how it works. I soon felt very encouraged when I washed my plate after lunch and a few others that were in the sink. This is not at all something that Honduran men do, in my house, this work is reserved for the ridiculously overworked house-servant who´s job title is ´muchacha´. My host brother deposited his plate, and once I started to wash it, he signalled that he wanted access to the sink so that he could wash his own plate. The growing trend is that I have found myself able to recognize small things in the lives of my family and co-workers that I can see that I have had some possitive effect on. Very encouraging and it feels wonderful.

So, I love being back in La Campa. And I´m looking forward to making whatever kind of impact I possible can here. And I´m going to chop this post short so that you can take some time to read Rachel´s and Liz´s posts because I relate to what they said in a lot of ways and they are excellent posts. In case you don´t have time, because I know how packed we like to make our schedules, here is an exerpt from rachel´s post:

´The outside living-ness of Nueva Suyapa such as children playing soccer in my path, donkeys going on their own and mothers bathing their children no longer makes me giddy like it did before. They now are everyday backdrops of the painting I’d like to call my life in Tegucigalpa.´

That painting is a beautiful one indeed.