5 minute breather

I cried today. I laughed today. I slept and I ate today. It was a good day. There are so many wonderful things about having a team here. I feel like I can relate to something; the tears, the shock, the smiles, the anger, and the joy. There is so much to concentrate on and take in when you are here. These are the thoughts I had during only 5 minutes of our 480 minute day:

I see red soil and smell garbage burning. I feel the sun on my neck… it burns me. I try to step out of the burning heat and into the shade of a tree. I am seeking solitude and I focus my breathing. I hear others speaking but refocus on the lush scenery. I glance down the long walking path ahead of me and try to imagine what lies around the bend. Suddenly I see a few people walking slowly towards me with sticks and vegetables on their heads and I step out of shade to investigate. There is a mother, a daughter and following last is a son. He is limping and sweating as he carries the heaviest burden. I duck my head and smile. He smiles from underneath the mound of unharvested beans atop his dark head. Who might he be in my world? Not a lame farmer but perhaps a healed boy playing soccer and going to school. I know his life expectancy is 35. He will be middle aged in 7 more years. I am thinking, “Will he suffer in his short life”? Yes… that is the answer. He will suffer something tragic… perhaps many tragedies. But he will also experience joy; simple and pure. There is nothing for him to do but love his family and survive. And so the boy I saw will one day become a man that perhaps will reflect on the one day he witnessed a mzungu in the village who took time to say hello. What else will come down the walking path I see? Wait… wasn’t I trying to refocus!?