Imagine...

Here is a photo of the area outside the kitchen, where we eat our delicious meals.



I am hoping to show you more photos in the future. Right now, I have no camera....long story.

Friday some of the staff and I went to visit "Maria" and her family. Maria lives in a small home made of metal sheets with a dirt floor in the middle of a comercial garden. Her home is an improvement from what it was months ago. They recently moved the home and made it a bit bigger. Maria has been given a tough lot in life; she and her husband are raising small children, and 2 that have cerebral palsy. The children can´t see, and have little to no ablities to take care of themselves. Somehow, in all the mud and dirt, Maria and her husband are so clean and well kept. Maria wears a bright white blouse and beautiful skirt. According to the staff here, whenever they make unannounced visits Maria is always so beautifully dressed. Recently, the family has come unto a bit tougher times, Maria´s husband had been sick for the past 2 weeks with a terrible fever, and therefore unable to work. That meant 2 weeks of lost salary. Fortunately, we brought food when we made our visit, and it was much appreciated.

Making this visit was difficult. I had to wonder how Maria can do it. It was uncomfortable for me to visit her home for just a short time, with flies swirling all around, the darkness of the home without any windows, the mud, the crying children. For her, this is her every day life. In conversation with Maria and her family, she is in many ways just like anyone else I know, but her life is so very different than anyone else I know.

Today I went to mass this morning with Kathy, the leader here. It was a small chapel, and the mass mostly in Spanish with a part in an indiginous language as well. The music was fun and lively coming from the balcony of the chapel. Now it is raining. It is not typical for it to rain here during the day, but it is hurricane season, and the hurricanes can bring more clouds and precipitation than usual.

I found some photos online of my workplace and I thought I would show you...

Above: This is where we normally meet in the mornings. Below: This is the path I take to my office...