This month my team partnered with Wildflower Home. Wildflower is a home, run by two of the sweetest ladies, for women seeking refuge: women who have been shunned for premarital pregnancy, who have been abused or assaulted, or who find themselves struggling to provide for their kids. Wildflower welcomes women who need the safety they offer, no matter the circumstance. My favorite thing about Wildflower Home is that they empower them as women and as mothers. During their stay women work the land and learn how to provide for themselves and their children. Along with working the land there are outside resources that come in to teach different trades such as cosmetology, massage therapy etc. These tools empower each woman to live a self-sustaining life after they leave Wildflower Home.
Our primary purpose the past few weeks has been working the land alongside the women. Most of our days were spent moving dirt to an area that a truck couldn’t get to. We had to level out the field that floods in the rainy season so that they are able to plant even more. I don’t think any other team would hwv had as much fun as we did moving dirt. When another team came in for a few days we may have gotten a little obsessive over it infact. “They are moving our dirt”. Of course it was all fun and games and we shared this with the other team for laughs!
Wildflower Home is in the process of starting a website to sell things that the women have learned to make such as Keychains, tshirts, journals, soaps, and the list goes on. There were a few days we took a break from manual labor to make soaps and tye-dye with the women. We also had the opportunity to jump in on some of the activities and sessions that others came to do with them. (Ask me about our day spent with a massage therapist learning her trade. I was bruised for days.) These were some of my favorite days because we got to really be with the women and get to know each one of them.
This month may have been manual labor, which isn’t a fan favorite on the Race, but we were working alongside some freaking strong women! I would give anything to go back and see their smiling faces one more time.
