Here is a blog that I wrote a few weeks back. It has recently come to mind as we have a foot in two different worlds.
This is a picture of my neighbor’s house. It is a humble house with a large mango tree in the back yard. The living spaces consist of a room about the size of our living room and dining room and another small living space out past the mango trees. Typically in Nicaragua yards are living spaces, too.
It appears that in the house there are at least 4 adults, one teenager, a 10 year old and a baby. They make furniture, and more than once I have been so frustrated with listening to the table saw while I am trying to Skype, that I have yelled out in anger.
But today I think I saw Jesus at their house.
Every few days in the afternoon, a woman who looks old beyond her years stops at the house with three kids with uncombed hair, dirty faces, and the appearance of not having bathed in weeks. The woman has the same disheveled appearance, but I admire her. She drives a one horse cart that is loaded down with gnarled, roughly cut wood, and she sells it presumably to make money for the family. Each morning our house is filled with the smell of a campfire, so I believe our neighbors cook over an open fire. This woman and her children stop to sell what is needed and what they have to offer.
Today though, I heard, in a small, little girl voice, “Hola…..Hola…….HOLA”. It was only the girls on the cart, with the overburdened horse and a pile of wood. Our neighbor came to the door- the patriarch who I have seen sitting in the doorway reading his Bible. The three young girls, maybe 12, 8, and 6, unloaded the wood, made the monetary exchange, and then the older one was asked to come further into the house.
Because of the world situation, I am afraid to say that there is a fear in me when I see a young girl lead out of view of other; we are all too familiar with the abuse that happens behind closed doors. But what happened next delighted me. The girl walked out with her arms loaded with mangoes. My neighbor with the large mango tree gave from what he had.
From the response of the girls, you would have thought it was Christmas! They were acknowledged for something other than just being wood suppliers. They were recognized for being real girls with real needs.
As the 12 year old steered the horse in the other direction, she caught me looking at her through my open door. She smiled and waved as I smiled and waved back. This usually timid and withdrawn girl had something to smile about today.