“Sometimes, you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”-Dr. Suess
This quote has rung true more and more lately as this trip is coming to a close. The last 11 months of my life has been a roller coaster of emotions and a treasure chest of great memories. In the moment some things were awful and unpleasant, but eventually everything has its chance to be something more. And even the worst moments on the race have become funny, weird, or the greatest of memories.
Yesterday was one of those days, full of memorable moments. We are at an orphanage this month and have made our fair share of memorable moments here. But, my teammate Luke and I, had the opportunity to go out to the 50+ acre Farm the orphanage owns and work there for a day.
We got up early, because it is a 2 hour drive away, and I saw the most beautiful stars in my entire life. I was up by 4:15am, and Luke and I took pictures of the stars before heading out for the day. We didn’t have super deep conversation, I mean it was 4am after all. But, we both just sat on the wall with our cameras, in the middle of Africa, trying to capture God’s artistry through a picture together.
We left at about 5:45 and two of my other teammates came along because they were going grocery shopping for the week that day. As we were driving, we were swerving around potholes, hundreds of people walking, and stopping for the occasional goat. My host and I were talking in the front seat when we almost hit a chicken. She laughed and said “I am not stopping for a chicken, we dont have time to stop for every single one.” Not 30 seconds later a chicken was crossing the road ahead of us and, well lets just say this Chicken didnt get all the way to the punch line. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw feathers settling on the road and black wings flap a time or two then lay still. I sat there in shock and just laughed. I mean a chicken did just get decapitated by a Toyota, but at the same time I was told that it would happen. We both just laughed and than moved on with our conversation.
When we arrived at the Farm it was beautiful! Tons of beautiful fruit trees, Mountains rising up all around us, and a beautiful river and rapids flowing through the middle. We were met at the gate by a man named Peter who we have gotten to know very well this month. He walked us down and showed us some of the property and show us a place to put our things. Once we put our things down he showed us some things we would be working on for the day.
We walked down to the river and found a boat fully submerged. The bow of the boat broke the otherwise glass like surface of the water. Luke and I assisted 6 other men in pulling the boat out of the water. We were struggling to pull the boat full of water and mud out of the water. To our delight help arrived. It was a man wearing a suit coat, matching pants, and flip flops. After some laughter from all of us and jokes, he took off his suit and climbed into the river to help push. We finally got it out enough to start scooping water out and than eventually on shore.
We than proceeded to help change the homemade filter for the water pump. Basically these inquisitive men took a 50 gallon drum, cut holes in it, wrapped it in a old foam bed pad, and pumped clean water through that for the farm. It was pretty remarkable seeing the ingenuity of it all and getting to be a part of it. While we were doing this they asked us to take lots of picture of them. This request carried on the rest of the day to all the men.
After we were done at the river we walked up to the driveway where they had young palms growing. It is the dry season so we needed to water the trees. Actually, It was their job to water the trees every day but when free labor is literally just dropped off at your doorstep you take advantage of that. We were more than willing to help though. We would fill our bucket at the tank, walk over to water each tree, and repeat. The whole time we were doing this they were just smiling and laughing.
After we had finished doing “our” chores we had the opportunity to see the whole property. We saw the fruit trees, the vegetable gardens, and the acre upon acre of natural beauty. We hiked all the way up to the top of the mountain were we could see the whole valley and the splendor the property in one beautifully painted picture. After catching our breath, for much longer than I care to admit, we climbed back down and went to the river.
On the way to the river two of the men we met earlier that morning came along. They lead the way to the river and were extremely excited and proud to show us the beauty of there home. We stopped, took some pictures, talked for a bit, and than took more pictures of the men. They would come running up holding a rock or some grass and ask to get a picture with it. I mean who am I to say no to such a beautiful, simple request.
After our photo shoot by the river we walked to a couple of these mens homes. The first man’s home we saw was the headman of this Area. Which is why they call him Headman Black. His home was small and plain but the Joy and pride he had for it made it as valuable and precious as the finest of metals or jewels. We took some pictures and than he introduced us to his wife and family. She was sitting in the front cutting cassava. She offered us some and we got to test a Zambian staple.
We than decided to call it a day and head back for lunch. On the way back one of the men we were walking with stopped us and wanted to show us his home. To me it looked just like every other thatched hut in the area but to him it was very evident that it was his home. We took some picture and then he abruptly got up and ran around back only to emerge a few minutes later holding a pumpkin. He handed it to me and told me it was a gift. I took it, smiled with excitement, and thanked him. All of a sudden he took it back and said he wanted to get a picture of him handing it to me. Luke and I both laughed but hey who are we to say no to such an easy request.
I carried our new pumpkin back to the property and we all sat down for lunch. While lunch was cooking one of the men stood up and ran over to the dirt and started doing pushups. I dont know what possessed him to do pushups but the same filled me and I started doing them too. He laughed and we pumped a few out together and than high fived and laughed more.
We sat down and I had the blessing of getting to hear a lot of these mens stories and the hardships of what living here was like. These people have a tremendous amount of joy, hope, and faith. After hearing their stories I found out why, that is all they have. I have faced my fair share of hurdles but these people face mountains every day.
We shared stories, laughed, told jokes, read scripture, and had discussions. It was a day and a dozen moments that I will never forget. After about an hour our host showed up to take us back home and to our surprise she had 100 extra passengers. The whole way home we were serenaded with the song of 100 peeping chicks right behind my seat. I suppose it can make up for the one we dispatched on the way. Lucky enough I was tired and fell asleep pretty quick.
Today was one of those days that was full of moments. Moments that I will never experience again and moments that can’t fully be explained. These moments were great and have already become beautiful memories. Fortunate enough these memories will only get better.
