One of the ministry opportunities we have had here was to make a concrete sidewalk that connected a road to a school. All the kids from the orphanage that we have been working with take this pathway to go to school. It rains often here and as a result pathways get very muddy. So the head of Kids International Ministries asked us to help with this project. The total distance that we poured was around 300 ft. We worked in the mornings for about 5 days with the help of some local hired hands.
I personally have about five summers worth of concrete experience from high school. So I started to envision in my mind how we would go about the project and what the final product would look like. But when the local masons came to help, things went a bit differently. They were not concerned about making the path perfectly straight or flat or even aesthetically pleasing. They were just concerned with getting it done. It was difficult to restrain myself from correcting their methods. I wanted to do it the “right way” or probably closer to the truth I wanted to do it “my way”. I ended up suggesting certain methods but excepted rejection if they went unnoticed. I learned that it is better to go with the flow then to cause unnecessary confrontation when I have no cultural seniority.
The kids from the area where so excited when the concrete hardened – they kept running up and down it. Where ever we go around here kids follow us, so it was a great way to minister to the street kids by playing with them, giving them food or getting them to help carry buckets of concrete.
Below is a video of: The Life of a Bucket. It gives meaning to “many hands make for light work.” In the video you will see some people from a mission group from Taiwan that also helped us. If you look closely you will see me walk by on the left.
