What a mind-blowing (or mind-blasting for the Russell Peters’ fans out there) experience to go from digging two feet ditches to having walls up! I can’t explain our team’s excitement and sense of accomplishment! We just wish we had the time here to at least get a door in! Many of the home sites have had door ceremonies, so we want one too! Charlie (Habitat employee), our house leader, says we are two days ahead of schedule. But we have to let the cement dry and cannot add anymore bricks for a few days. And well, we leave on Thursday so tomorrow and Wednesday will be spent cleaning up our site, shifting sand, bricks, and rocks from the street to the property. I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I decided to be on a team where I didn’t know anyone. I traveled here with Madelyn and really hit it off with some great girls from Portland, but I really wanted to develop relationships and see how it is working in such a situation with strangers. Well, I have to say, I picked the best team! We all work so well together. The age range is from 30 to 70 years old and we are from the US, Canada, Ireland and Australia. The diversity is amazing and I really feel like I have created a family. Melissa (the Canadian) and I almost cried today as we took a picture standing behind our newly built wall. I can’t imagine how emotional tomorrow and Wednesday will be.
Because we are ahead of schedule, our team is being split up tomorrow to help other teams. That’s going to be rough.
This afternoon, we had a gentleman come to our lunch and speak to us about domestic violence against women in the Northern Karnataka region. The most important point he made was that not only were women learning about their rights, but men were also being educated and being held accountable! Loved it! This evening James, the Bangalore representative from the International Justice Mission discussed bonded labor slavery. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. James shared some fantastic success stories, but also those people who felt to afraid to recreate a life after being freed. Please visit the website for more detailed information: www.ijm.org.
It was a wonderful day and now I’m sad I’m leaving in two days…
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It's been so powerful to read your blogs Geetu... it's so detailed, inspiring, and emotional. I can only imagine what it's like to be there amongst it all. I can't tell you how proud I am to know you and for what you and the other Helping Hands folks are doing. This really puts into perspective many things that we in our (US) world consider priorities, that really aren't at all.
ReplyDeleteall the best... I know it won't be easy to leave, but remember the saying "leave the world a better place than you came into it"... I know you are doing just that.
With love and admiration...
- Me