Written on Wednesday, 3/13/13
There are a lot of things that I thought I would become during/after the Race: strong, free, knowledgeable, wise, courageous, loving, patient, adaptable, adventurous, grateful, resourceful…
Out of all the things in world that I could become out of this experience, I did NOT expect to become this:
Domesticated adj. to be accustomed to home life or housework (as given by Encarta Dictionary)
Seriously, God? A trip around the world and I’m learning how to be comfortable with home life? Interesting.
Please don’t misunderstand; I’m in no way upset that this is happening (in fact, it’s kind of exciting—maybe I’m growing up!), I just did not anticipate any of this. I blame Bolivia. Since being in this fabulous country, I have become inspired and excited to cook, I find pleasure in cleaning, and my joy in taking care of children has been renewed.
Being in South America, in general, has made me very excited to start cooking and making things from scratch. I’ve observed how to make several simple, healthy (and unhealthy) dishes in these past couple months, with minimal supplies and ingredients. Here at YWAM Bolivia, every day, one person from our team helps the staff make lunch for 19 people (this includes the YWAM staff and students and Team Luminous). Yesterday, was my turn. I helped Nubia and Sonja make a beef and vegetable stew, a broccoli cream sauce over seasoned rice, and steamed beats. Here, pots don’t have matching lids; the sink doesn’t drain, so we catch the water in a bowl and throw it outside; knives are dull; and windows don’t keep flies out. But I’ve been learning that all those luxuries of having a “nice kitchen” doesn’t really matter, because the food was freaking delicious and no one got sick. SO stoked to cook more on my own. (But let’s set the expectation bar down for what I can do: I’m excited, not experienced.)
In addition to lunch duties, the YWAM staff has incorporated our team into the daily work duty schedule of the base. Every day after lunch, we all have an assigned work duty for two hours. For the remainder of the month, Carla and I are responsible for cleaning the three women’s bathrooms. Carla is one of the YWAM students—she’s a sweet and lively 19-year old Bolivian girl who loves to dance. During work duties, she and I dance and teach each other English and Spanish. This makes the time fly by and, again, we use simple supplies, but more is not necessary. As far as laundry goes, Team Luminous has been accustomed to doing laundry by hand and drying by sun and wind. It’s become a much more expedient process, but our washing machines and dryers are dearly missed things of the past. I’ll be quite excited for my first load of clean laundry when I get home.
On the weekdays, Team Luminous is also helping out at an orphanage that provides care for babies with special needs. It was started by an American family who lives in a house behind the orphanage with their six kids (three adopted and three biological). They started the orphanage because one of their now adopted sons was born with a cleft palate and needed special medical care. In total, there are seven orphaned babies living at the home—some have HIV, some have cleft palates/lips, one little girl is blind, and some came in with parasites. (Three of them recently had pneumonia, as well. Needless to say, PLEASE pray for these kids and the staff.)
So far, this month has been truly a blessing. Having running water and beds with mosquito nets is quite the luxury. Plus, it is exponentially safer here than in Trujillo, so Team Luminous has been able to experience the rush of being out past 7 PM! (Nightlife = walking a couple blocks to get fried chicken and ice cream at 9 PM—woot!) I praise God for our Month 3 conditions!
