It is Tuesday afternoon and we have been in Los Palmeritos for only three days – yet, as we laugh about in our group of eleven, we feel as if we have been here for two months! Every moment is a dynamic experience; every sight a stimulus because of its novelty; every thought a new interpretation of what life is and how people live it; so that living here for just a few days, we feel weathered by perspective and giddy with the depth of living each day attentively.
I sit with legs cradled into my chest, my bare feet prickled from the grass grazed by goats, looking across at the softness of a cloud and its intimacy with the nearest mountain peak. Kalina and Alicia ask us in reflection, “When was a moment on this trip when you have felt truly yourself?”
I am grateful for their question – for the chance to allow this service experience to become all I believe it to be: a tumbling fall into love with an incredible community in the Dominican Republic; with this inspiring group of students and staff from a little college in Vermont; and, surprisingly, with the deepest parts of ourselves. It has been obvious (though no less fulfilling) to recognize the richness in a village working to better their quality of life and to be captivated by a group of individuals coming together on a service trip because of a similar passion for social justice; yet, it is a slower process to see myself at the heart of it, to take the time to see my own blossoming amidst all this love.
Their question settles on me easily and the answer drops in a tear. This morning, waiting for our next shift at work, I had the privilege to sit with Freddy, our dear friend and liaison between ADESJO and MOVE, and with his co-worker, the Director of Infrastructure. The conversation sparked from our questions about the logistics, the challenges and the joys of the past thirty plus years of their work. We wanted to understand the heart of the organization and to even have the opportunity to ask specific questions related to what we have heard these camposinos of Los Palmeritos talking about. These very busy men sat with us, under the shade of a Dominican tree, and took the time to tell their story. Each of them carries the vision of one man, Padre Luis Quinn, the founder of ADESJO, who witnessed both the people of San Jose de Ocoa’s struggles as well as their absolute ability to work together and provide a peaceful, sustaining future. His love for them and his ingenuity to create lasting change has lived on in people like Freddy since his passing in 2007.
While I do not have the words to relate everything they told us this morning, I do know what lingers from the memory of that conversation. In the midst of their talk, as I realized all of the hours they spend a day on this mission and their humble drive to continue on, I felt a rush of emotion, biting my lip to keep from breaking into tears. The rush was pure gratitude --knowing all at once that I was in the presence of truly great men – and that they are it; that this is it; this is life: to live deeply, to live authentically, to live with great love.
Erin Bodin
No comments:
Post a Comment