Can you hear me now?

September 10, 2010

Today – the whole family minus Junior went into Chincha so that I could buy a cell phone. I was very excited because I have not been able to call anyone back home & I think that has been responsible for a huge part of the tear fest. However, nothing away from home is as easy as we take for granted. You know, you get a new cell; you put in your contacts and gab away. Well I punched in the numbers, awaited anxiously and all I got in return was a recording in Spanish I couldn’t understand. That was the last straw. I couldn’t hold it in. I didn’t want too either. I wanted to talk to Hollis, I wanted to cry in the phone and tell him I was frustrated, annoyed, didn’t think I could do it & basically question everything about myself the same way I did in Nicaragua and I couldn’t even do that!

Later that morning Blaise came and took me to see all of the building projects around the area and to his house for lunch, which ironically has the Internet! With baited breath I searched how the heck I could call Canada because I was doing SOMETHING wrong & even better how Canada could call me J
Figured it out, finally. Canada has a code. It’s 001, who would have thought!
I’ve now has my first call & feel remarkably better after hearing a friendly voice- No tears since! The projects in Pueblo Nuevo are inspiring, I can’t imagine rebuilding since 2007 & still nowhere near finished. Apparently there is a committee that meets weekly & decides who will be the next families that will receive housing from the parish. Using raw materials from the area men dig with picks & axes and than separate the clay from the rocks. Later they turn that clay with adobe and make brinks for homes in the area. The parish helps build the home under the condition that the families also take part in the work. Everyone who will benefit from the new home must help with the construction- young & old there is always something to be done. Some of the homes look great & the families have done a lot with what they’ve been given. There are other houses that haven’t reached their full potential and won’t unless the families choose to fix them.