Considering Pinalito
I have been trying to write something about my experience with a mission team for weeks now... Please excuse the bullet style descriptions: there is much to say.
Pinalito is the name of the little town where the missionary family, the Beenes, have lived for 20 years. The adventure begins with a treacherous ride up the mountain from Zacapa... it´s only possible in a 4 wheel drive. The mission consists of a coffee factory, a school, a church, the Beene's house, and some new apartments where 20 interns will soon arrive from the US. The "natives" live in bamboo huts or block houses that the mission has donated... they cook on open fires and sleep on cornsacks on dirt floors. The children are all TINY... the kids that I would have assumed to be 5 years old are actually 10 or 11. Malnutrition, worms and Parasites are the biggest problems with the children, and it is evident in their swollen bellies and wrinkley skin.
I need to learn more about their agriculture; I did see several crops of corn, and there are banana trees and coffee plants that grow wild. Recently, the mission donated avocado plants to raise the local income. Men and women walk two hours down the mountain to sell their produce... but I don't know what kind of money they make. I don´t imagine that there is really an economy, just a downtrodden community of people scraping by.
I am drawn to this place, for I see so much possiblity. Dad, it´s the same feeling you get when you come into my messy room and go crazy organizing my clothes and papers: some of the improvements seem so simple! I go into overdrive thinking about what I would do if... The kids need an alphabet around the classroom. 14 year olds cannot tell the difference between a "b" and a "d." There should be local men and women working in the medical clinic instead of short-term American volunteers. There is a new library with internet and computers, but there is no one to run it. As I mentioned before, there is a coffee-bean factory, but there is no one to sell the coffee. There are sewing machines to give the women, but no one to teach them how to sew. The land is fertile, but there are no gardens.
If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime, right?
I am very tempted to stay, but very aware of how idealistic I am. I expect the usual parental turn of the nose from whoever reads this, for I know I am naive. The Beene family could tell near-death stories all week long, and they have a faith in God that is amazing to me. What can I offer that they have not already tried?
Pinalito is the name of the little town where the missionary family, the Beenes, have lived for 20 years. The adventure begins with a treacherous ride up the mountain from Zacapa... it´s only possible in a 4 wheel drive. The mission consists of a coffee factory, a school, a church, the Beene's house, and some new apartments where 20 interns will soon arrive from the US. The "natives" live in bamboo huts or block houses that the mission has donated... they cook on open fires and sleep on cornsacks on dirt floors. The children are all TINY... the kids that I would have assumed to be 5 years old are actually 10 or 11. Malnutrition, worms and Parasites are the biggest problems with the children, and it is evident in their swollen bellies and wrinkley skin.
I need to learn more about their agriculture; I did see several crops of corn, and there are banana trees and coffee plants that grow wild. Recently, the mission donated avocado plants to raise the local income. Men and women walk two hours down the mountain to sell their produce... but I don't know what kind of money they make. I don´t imagine that there is really an economy, just a downtrodden community of people scraping by.
I am drawn to this place, for I see so much possiblity. Dad, it´s the same feeling you get when you come into my messy room and go crazy organizing my clothes and papers: some of the improvements seem so simple! I go into overdrive thinking about what I would do if... The kids need an alphabet around the classroom. 14 year olds cannot tell the difference between a "b" and a "d." There should be local men and women working in the medical clinic instead of short-term American volunteers. There is a new library with internet and computers, but there is no one to run it. As I mentioned before, there is a coffee-bean factory, but there is no one to sell the coffee. There are sewing machines to give the women, but no one to teach them how to sew. The land is fertile, but there are no gardens.
If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime, right?
I am very tempted to stay, but very aware of how idealistic I am. I expect the usual parental turn of the nose from whoever reads this, for I know I am naive. The Beene family could tell near-death stories all week long, and they have a faith in God that is amazing to me. What can I offer that they have not already tried?
posted by Sarah Ruzic at 3:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home