Ministry for me these past few weeks has been full of surprises to say the least. We have been working with a ministry called Legacy of Hope in Honduras. They care for abandon children until they can formally be adopted by families. My teammates and I were given specific jobs for our time there. My job was grounds keeping and primarily laundry service. Personally I thought to myself, “This is going to be a piece of cake.” they have a washer and dryer they use a majority of the time. It is a beneficial thing to have when you got 13 people, big and small, in your house. So after a few days of training, I began to work on my own.
I got up and was ready to get the laundry going, all the while knowing that I would be done quickly if I worked at a good pace. I put my first load in the washer and then went about some other chores. I came back later to check on it and the washer was still on its first cycle, something had to be wrong. I asked our host what to do and he said to try a load with no laundry. I did, until I came back to it and it was flooding the cellar downstairs. What a catastrophe! After cleaning up the water it was firmly decided that I would have to wash everything by hand. I looked over and stared at the Pila, a cement water station Hondurans use for multiple chores, including laundry. I had to get these clothes done though or this family was not going to function properly.
I began to wash clothes vigorously with the grate cemented into the wash area of the Pila. My hands were getting rubbed raw and my wrists were extremely sore from all the back and forth, rinsing and ringing out. I would get whiffs of baby poop, pee, and nasty old food on clothes I had to wash. I scrubbed them really well, making sure that the smell was vanquished. I was tired at the end of the day, arms slumped and not moving, exhausted from head to toe from all the work it took just to clean clothes. I had to do this for four long and grueling days. My teammates helped out as well to make sure all the laundry got finished, which was a huge blessing. Finally after a repair man looked at the washer, it started to work again! I literally said, “Praise Jesus!!”
The next day, while the washer was spinning through a load, I sat looking at the Pila. I started thinking of people who do not have a washer and use it everyday to clean clothes. They are champions in my books. I have a newfound respect for the Pila and the people who use them. While sitting there I came up with an Ode for the time I used the Pila. So I’ll end with it, hoping you get a small glimpse into what I experienced.
“O Pila, you are an enigma of sorts,
Washing clothes on your cement slab.
From pooped stained drawers to your everyday shorts,
I tell myself, “It isn’t that bad.”
My hands are so sore,
rubbed raw from the work,
but the pain brings one very big perk.
Respect for the pila forevermore.”
