Like I said in my last blog http://emilydoherty.theworldrace.org/post/hello-zim, during my time in Binga we had people from the community coming in and helping us move dirt and make bricks. There was one particular day that I think will always stand out to me when I think of Binga. On this day I woke up like normal, pretty tired but giving my self the motivational talk to keep going and trying to convince myself that moving dirt all day is really fun and I should get out there and start. It didn’t work quite as well as I hoped but I put on my sunscreen, ate breakfast, and went to find my place moving dirt anyways.
That day there was a lot of dirt to be moved. There was a huge pile of dirt that had accumulated from 15 truck loads that had been delivered the day before. When I got to the dirt pile I saw this little old lady shoveling dirt into a bucket. I saw her then drop the shovel, pick up the bucket and move over toward the foundation to dump it out.
My first thought, as most peoples first thought would be, was wow look at this poor old lady. She shouldn’t be doing this kind of work. To say the least I was confused. Does this lady feel like she has to do this? Do I help her? How do I help her? How do I get her to stop?
I then decided that shoveling was the most effective way I could help her. I took the shovel and started shoveling the dirt in the bucket for her but I would only shovel a small scoop of it so it would be light for her to carry. I also figured that eventually she would get tired and be done and then the real intense work could start. So we carried on like this for a good while and the whole time I’m thinking to myself any minute now she is going to sit down and I can stop feeling bad that she is doing all this work. Unfortunately for my plan, however, two more old ladies show up with buckets and begin helping. My problem had multiplied by 3.
I begin filling their buckets in the same manner I was filling the first old lady’s. These ladies however wouldn’t pick up the bucket until I added more dirt and once it was sufficient to them they would pick it up and move it to the foundation. So there I was, shoveling dirt in these buckets for a good hour or so, and not only am I starting to get tired but I’m getting worried for these ladies backs/overall health. I knew If I was tired they had to be tired and I still held out hope that they will all get tired enough to call it a day or at least take a break. However, I severely underestimated these ladies. We went on for another hour and a half with not even the slightest sign that they wanted a break. Contrary to these older ladies, I am now the one who is desperately needing a break, just a sip of water or something but I was now stubborn in not taking a break until they did. I just kept thinking, If these old ladies, that up until now I felt sorry for, can keep going, so can I. Don’t let these older ladies beat you, Emily!
I was struggle busing it hard core but I was determined. I think the struggle was written all over my face, though, because some of the guys on the other side of the dirt pile started helping me. I eventually accepted defeat and had to go take a break while I watched the older women keep going. It was all so humbling to say the least. I jumped right back into it after I had my little break and we finished out that whole pile before lunch. The foundation on that building was now way over half way done. We were done with work for that day however because the truck that was going out and getting the dirt had broken down. Praises to the Lord! I was happy to be done for the day.
Later on in the day I was talking to Tandega, one of the guys who works for Hope Zimbabwe, about how hard these ladies were working and joking about how they make me look bad. That’s when he told me that that day was actually their day off from the fields and that they were all complaining that there wasn’t more work to do in the afternoon. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I didn’t understand these ladies at all.
My teammate Caleb came to us at team time and told us he was having similar thoughts about the locals who came to help us that day. He had to fight to keep a shovel because so many of them just wanted to help but he knew if he gave it to them, he’d never get it back. So Caleb said he had talked to Tandega and asked why. Why do these people work so hard? He said that these people believe that God has given them two hands and two feet and they want to use what God has given them to bring the Kingdom of God and building this orphanage is bringing Kingdom.
That was the day the locals of Binga made me realize that literally everything that we do as Christians can be about bringing kingdom even in something so normal and mundane as moving dirt from one place to another.
