Pizza Cutter
“Is that a pizza cutter?” I had asked Wendell, one of the volunteers, to cut some broccoli for dinner. I meant it as a joke, because we only had one knife, and it was being used to cut some other vegetable. I had turned around for one second and Wendell was apparently so determined to cut that broccoli that he managed to find the pizza cutter and use that as his tool of choice. His response to my question stated earlier was, “we have to work with our resources.” He may have done it to be silly, but Wendell is exactly right.
Recently,
I was asked what I think I am going to miss the most about living in Bolivia
when I go back to the US. My mind went immediately to the first thing that I
noticed that I love about the people here. They’re resourceful. One very
popular mode of transport here are motorbikes, I imagine because they don’t
cost as much as cars. Most of the time, they look like something halfway
between a motorcycle and a dirt bike. Every once in a while, you’ll see four
people on one of these motorbikes. Usually, two adults and two kids. A whole
family on one bike that is meant for a maximum of two people – a startling
sight at first. That is the first big example of resourcefulness that I noticed
here. Don’t have a car but still need to transport your whole family? Everyone
better hop on that motorbike. Another example is doorknobs. Doorknobs are a
rarity at least here at Familia Feliz. If you think about it, they really
aren’t a necessity. A brick to keep the bathroom door closed or a basket of
toys to keep the cats out at night works just as well. One of our doorknobs is
broken, so we use popsicle sticks to open it. It’s works just as well. I’ve
noticed myself start to adapt this habit of resourcefulness. We needed a
curtain for our window because it was cold at night (the windows are just
screens without glass). So, I grabbed a sheet we weren’t using and hung it up
on some nails with hair ties to keep it in place. It’s pretty much the same
thing as a curtain. Minha used hair clips to keep the curtain on the other
window in our bedroom from blowing away. I have a whole list of examples, but
this would go on too long if I included all of them.
Let
me give you a quick explanation of where I am writing this from. Right now it
is about nine at night and the girls are playing games in the field with the
other volunteers so I have finally found a few minutes to write. I am sitting
on my bed in my bug net in my room that hasn’t had a working light for about a week
and there is some low fi music playing. Why? Well, on the floor next to me is a
mattress, and on that mattress lies our two-year-old, sound asleep. For now. In
a few hours, he’ll probably start whimpering or all out crying. Then he’ll
probably do the same thing a few more times. And when that happens, either Minha
or I will have to help him fall back asleep if it gets bad enough. Then he’ll
wake up at about 7:15am, and one of us will have to change his diaper because
it will be wet. Yesterday, I was putting our two-year-old down for bedtime.
Music helps him sleep, so I had some on and was singing to him as he fell
asleep. Babies are cute when they’re awake during the day, but when you get to
see the peace that is a sleeping baby, it’s a completely different experience. I
really did not enjoy being woken up and having to get out of bed to help the
baby sleep at two in the morning (who does?), but now I don’t mind it. I
actually find it rewarding somehow. This morning, he woke up at about 6:15am
and was screaming. I got out of bed and laid next to him, and it was instant
peace. That peace is unmatched.
You
don’t have to be in a third world country to be resourceful. You don’t have to
be in a third world country to be uncomfortable. Life is not always ideal.
Sometimes it’s not as mild as using popsicle sticks to open your bedroom door.
Sometimes is a very long-distance relationship. Sometimes its facing the
reality that you’ve graduated, and your life will never be the same as when it
was when you were living within a few miles of so many of your friends and even
a few of your best friends. Sometimes its not seeing your family, your best
friends, or going back home for six months. Sometimes it’s the death of a loved
family member. That’s the screaming baby at 2am. Why are these scenarios so
hard? They’re all forms of grief. Yes, you can grieve something other than
someone who’s passed, although I don’t want to take any significance out of
what it means to grieve. So why does grief hurt? Well, I don’t have all the
answers, but my counselor once explained it to me like this. This hurts so bad
because it was so good. Being at school was a unique, fun, and exciting time in
life. That family member was a bright light in life, and the relationship with
them cannot be replaced. It was so good, and now its gone. But it was so good!
You got to have that experience, and that is so cool. For example, I, an
American, consider the lack of doorknobs to be unideal, because I know what
it’s like to have doorknobs absolutely everywhere. Here’s the news. Even in
your unideal experiences, even in the uncomfortable, even in your pain, you
have a refuge. In Psalm 46, the Bible says, “The Lord is our refuge and
strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” That is the sleeping baby. In His
refuge you will find peace. He’s ready to be your refuge, you just have to let
Him.
Dear Lord
I
want to pray for the reader. I don’t know what they’re going through right now,
but you do. You know exactly what they need. Your are our refuge and our
strength. I pray that they will let you be their refuge. Thank you, and we love
you.
Amen.
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