Monday, December 3, 2012

A Journey Overseas


Week Three:

Meeting the People in my Inbox


I realized that I couldn't sum up a three week trip overseas in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy this three part series!

It seemed like everywhere we went, teens and kids wanted their picture taken with us.  White people are celebrities in Indonesia, apparently.  Here's my friend Cedric (from Switzerland but lives in Indonesia) with a group of teen girls which turned into a group of about 25 teens.


When I open my work e-mail each day, I often find stories from the people working in the field with poor villages.  Most days there is a specific story of a specific person or family’s changed life because of the work of GHNI.  I know that these people are real and that their lives and stories matter.  I even experience along with them the pain, compassion, joy, and gratitude of their situation to some degree.  However, seeing these people’s faces in a digital photograph attached in an e-mail and seeing their smile resulting from my interaction with them are two vastly different things.  Reading about the conditions in which these children live daily and smelling the sewers running alongside their streets bring a whole new perspective to the stories I post on our website.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I was sick with a stomach bug the whole last week of my journey.  I think it was some fresh lettuce I stupidly ate the weekend before even though I know that the water wasn’t safe and fresh produce is likely washed in that water.  I was sick.  I was hot.  I was missing my husband; my home.  Yet, with all of these discomforts, it didn’t matter because the people I was around that week lived with more discomforts than you or I could ever imagine on a daily basis.  I was a broken mess in the morning as our team met but when we arrived in the village after lunch, none of those thoughts entered my mind.

Camba Berua is the name of the slum village where I spent most of my time.  The other village, Tanah Keke, was on an island involving a two hour boat-ride and overnight visit with minimal toilet access, so I was unable to go because of my stomach issues.  I was pretty mad to be in that situation, after all, I had come all the way around the world for this!  However, I came to terms with the situation and used the time I had with the other village wisely and it was definitely worth it.
Me with the sewing ladies of Camba Berua
We were able to visit some women in Camba Berua who had been loaned sewing machines and given sewing lessons.  They then made aprons to sell to be able to pay off their sewing machines and generate business which would provide additional income to their husband’s meager salaries.  Meeting these women was a huge joy because I heard the stories of how hard they worked to get to where they are today.  I especially was excited because of my personal joy in sewing.  I’ve often thought of selling some of my creations (quilts and purses) to provide a little more income for my husband and I but have often doubted whether anyone would buy my work.  I told these women, through a translator, that their success had inspired me.  I was told later by the people that work with these women that my encouragement was a huge blessing to them; showing them that they aren’t the only ones that struggle and that their efforts can encourage others.

Though this visit with these amazing women was a joy, it was really the children in the village that stole my heart.  From the moment we arrived, they began following us around.  The longer we were there, the more children gathered at our feet.  Language didn’t matter.  These little people absorbed every move we made and every word we spoke.  They often told us every English word they knew.  The more they saw how interested I was in interacting with them, the more they wanted to engage. 

Children waiting outside of the home we were visiting along with my teammate, Jim, on our first visit to Camba Berua.
By the end of that week, the rest of my team started affectionately calling me the “Pied Piper” (Honestly, I had to look up what that meant.  If you are like me, you might be interested in this link “Pied Piper”).  I realized that they saw the joy and gift I have working with children and didn’t even know that what I have is something special.  Yes, I was overwhelmed by the poverty and subsequent dreadful conditions that these children lived in but I also found joy in being able to give them the gift of games and song.  I was asked to help lead the children’s program on the last day we met in the village and never enjoyed doing the “Hokey Pokey” over and over again so much in my life!

I started teaching these kids "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on the first day and as soon as they saw me the next day, all they could say was "isty bitsy!  itsy bitsy!" and held their fingers up like a spider climbing the water spout.
"Put your head in and shake it all about!"

While I know that my presence was a gift to the women and children of that village, I think God also used them to speak to me.  I have never had so many people take note at how my being around children brings me to life.  After two weeks of sitting in meetings (something I really could do without), I imagine putting me around a bunch of children really changed my team’s perspective on me and allowed them to get to know a truer side of me.  I glowed at the many comments that I’d be a great mom someday, which is honestly something I’m really looking forward to, but also something I’ve doubted whether I’d actually do well.  It was an experience that really rounded out a trip that I didn’t even want to go on, making it a trip that I’m grateful I made.
The view from the airplane arriving in Orlando, Florida.  It was a sweet welcome home!

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