On the way up to Charco Blanco
Allen, our new Peace Corps Volunteer (from NYC and descendant of Chinese parents) and I began walking up to Charco Blanco. The road has not seen a bulldozer after Noel and we found three places where even motorcycles can not pass: the results of landslides and deep gullies opened by the heavy rains.
At Cafe de las Mujeres
Once we reached Cafe de las Mujeres we saw huge amapola de sombra trees blown over by the freak high winds that left pockets devastated while other areas remained largely untouched. To enter the wilderness of broken trees, fallen branches and little coffee bushes splintered and flattened under the weight of the wrecked canopy... we experienced the devastation. A group of youths chopped at the branches in silence, they wielded their machetes in an effort to free the coffee bushes from the wreckage. Before, the canopy offered shelter and when it fell to pieces, the very trees that offered protection became the ones that ruined the slender coffee branches.
Along come the children
At this low point in our journey, along came the children pictured above. Notice the two empty containers in the older boy's arms. He will give the smaller gallon tank to his youngest sister who stands to his left. They fill up the containers and start back to their home, each child carrying one or two gallons. The little girl weighs how much? Would you say fifty pounds? And yet she is able to carry a full gallon container over half a mile, across the broken tree trunks, along a path and then up the mountain road to her home.
No complaining
The children moved along in harmony. None of them complained about the chore of carrying the water such a long distance. They did what was expected... as simple as that. In the group, the youngest child learned what needed to be done and she followed the example. We witnessed a school of developing physical strength.
Strong people needed
With increasing rains and tropical storms on the horizon for an indefinite future, the island of Hispaniola will be in dire need of strong children, young people and adults. They will face challenges and adversity which can scarcely be imagined at this point.
Thanksgiving for the strength of children
In a world of increasing imbalances between the forces of wind, air and sea, let us give thanks to God for the strength in children. He brings them forth and creates environments where they learn to carry heavy loads and give one another the encouragement needed to reach home with a joyful spirit.
