Housework Here
Housework here takes longer, without a doubt. Very few people have clothes driers, for one thing; everyone dries their clothes on clotheslines in back rooms or patios—or on fences if they have them. This means the clothing feels stiff as boards when dry—and ironing is a must. I used to spend about one afternoon a week ironing, and that was a hot afternoon’s work, believe me.
We do not know anyone who has “central air conditioning;” if people have air conditioning, it is only in their bedrooms. Thus windows (usually without screens) are open all the time to let air in…and with the air, of course, comes dust—and whatever else…flies, mosquitoes, even occasionally, birds. Therefore furniture surfaces and floors get dirty and need to be cleaned often. Usually floors are tile (very little carpeting here, and not in our apartment) and keeping them clean means sweeping and mopping.
I now have a maid who comes two times a week: once for cleaning and once for ironing. Most people, even with less income than we have, have two maids all the time, everyday! One of the maids often does some of the shopping and most of the cooking. But I work at home, and can’t stand “that much company”! Besides, we are used to my cooking.
But cooking takes more time than it used to in the States, too. For one thing, the water out of the tap is not safe to drink. So all drinking water (including that for brushing teeth) comes from the spigot of a wonderful little ionizer filter we have. So one has to be careful in the kitchen about which water one is using. Also, the filter does not connect to an icemaker in the freezer, and we like a lot of ice in this climate, so someone needs to fill the ice trays at least once a day. All fruits and vegetables, especially lettuce, need to be carefully washed (with good water) and “spun dry.” There are fewer prepared and packaged foods, so I spend more time cutting and chopping, making my own salad dressings and sauces, and sometimes, cereal and bread. In many ways, because of ingredients that do not exist here (or I haven’t learned how to find them yet!) I have had to be more creative as a cook: David likes the results, and it can be fun, but….it all does take more time. It is a very, very good way for me to remember that the mundane is sacred… when I let it be so.
We do not know anyone who has “central air conditioning;” if people have air conditioning, it is only in their bedrooms. Thus windows (usually without screens) are open all the time to let air in…and with the air, of course, comes dust—and whatever else…flies, mosquitoes, even occasionally, birds. Therefore furniture surfaces and floors get dirty and need to be cleaned often. Usually floors are tile (very little carpeting here, and not in our apartment) and keeping them clean means sweeping and mopping.
I now have a maid who comes two times a week: once for cleaning and once for ironing. Most people, even with less income than we have, have two maids all the time, everyday! One of the maids often does some of the shopping and most of the cooking. But I work at home, and can’t stand “that much company”! Besides, we are used to my cooking.
But cooking takes more time than it used to in the States, too. For one thing, the water out of the tap is not safe to drink. So all drinking water (including that for brushing teeth) comes from the spigot of a wonderful little ionizer filter we have. So one has to be careful in the kitchen about which water one is using. Also, the filter does not connect to an icemaker in the freezer, and we like a lot of ice in this climate, so someone needs to fill the ice trays at least once a day. All fruits and vegetables, especially lettuce, need to be carefully washed (with good water) and “spun dry.” There are fewer prepared and packaged foods, so I spend more time cutting and chopping, making my own salad dressings and sauces, and sometimes, cereal and bread. In many ways, because of ingredients that do not exist here (or I haven’t learned how to find them yet!) I have had to be more creative as a cook: David likes the results, and it can be fun, but….it all does take more time. It is a very, very good way for me to remember that the mundane is sacred… when I let it be so.
The Mayor’s Novel Idea
Some months back, after a Christian medical doctor was elected mayor in one of the townships outside of Sincelejo, he asked David to visit and talk about how an economic development program like David’s could be of help to poor people in his township. After several more conversations, visits, and a presentation David made to the mayor’s employees, there is a group of some 30 people formed into 3 community banks and soon they will receive loans.
But here’s the fascinating part: the money comes from the Colombian government. The mayor needed, and still wants, David’s expertise and the methodology that seems to be working well in other settings. He has access to government money for such help, but told David, “If the people think the money is from the government, they won’t pay back.” How fascinating! Our impression was that it is hard to get people to pay back if they think the money comes from a church source, or if you are a gringo… But David is learning, from all sources, that it is hard to get people to pay back, period. Needless to say, this makes the successful paybacks of the first loan cycles of the community banks David has started all the more impressive. But David is interested to see how his little “banks” will do in the second and third cycles.
And it will be intriguing to see how the thirty projects from the mayor’s township do, too. This is a grand experiment: government money processed through a Christian development agency, using the training and methodologies David has evolved, for the use and benefit of a township… How it will work economically will be fascinating to watch. And, meanwhile, the experiment provides the mayor, and David, with many practical opportunities to share the gospel and the benefits of doing business God’s way!
We’ll keep you posted!
The Math of Sacrifice
Sometimes it feels like a sacrifice to be here…sometimes it doesn’t.
We love the liveliness of this culture, the friendliness that pervades most social contacts, the verve and vivacity with which most things are done. We love all the fresh fruits and vegetables: it will probably take us months or years to learn the names (not to mention the uses) of the things that grow in this rich tropical climate.
We love driving through the beautiful, green, rolling countryside.
We enjoy our 5th floor apartment, in the middle of the city, with all of the unique Sincelejo noises that drift (or pierce) their way up to us.
David loves a trip off the asphalt road to see projects, and a good, down-to-earth talk with a group of loan recipients or prospects, wrestling with the “nitty gritty” details of how a business works—or not—or how to do things in a way that honors God and produces long term results, rather than, perhaps, “the easy way.” He comes home deeply satisfied from stuff like that.
Some “sacrifices” (like the housekeeping chores mentioned above) are small…but at certain times add up. Other things we miss are: U.S. TV, especially sports, concerts, and design shows. We miss U.S. newspapers, certain kinds of cheeses (e.g. cheddar, Swiss) either not available here or quite expensive, certain kinds of meats, a good Blockbuster video rental place…a mall. We miss hot water: no one has hot water here. Even the best hotel in Sincelejo ($200 a night) does not have hot water. Cold water showers can be refreshing on a hot afternoon, but at other times, rather shocking. We have opted to have at least one shower in the house with one of those contraptions (commonly called a “widow maker”—a name I find appalling!) that heats the water as it goes through. Until recently that meant the water was scalding, so we had a choice between cold water or boiling, but recently David fiddled with it, and the temperature is now acceptable: very little water pressure, but good temperature!
And every now and then (especially during thunder storms) the electricity goes off…meaning, not only no AC or fans for however long it is off, but very messed up modems and computers to deal with before one can “get on with life again.”
Mostly we miss intangible things like a safe, secure park or beach where we could get away from the city and go and enjoy a wide green or ocean vista without having to put up with a lot of noise and other people…or pay “an arm and a leg” to be there. It would be nice, some days, to not sweat… I suppose I should say, not perspire, but, hey, it’s hot here, and the heat drains your energy.
We miss quiet: the silence of a U.S. suburban neighborhood after 9:00 at night, restaurant music that does not bombard the ear, and church music that does not assault and banish any possibility of worship. (Slowly we are learning where to sit, where not too stay long, where not to go!)
We miss the impossible-to-reproduce sense of familiarity and “knowing how to do things” that one loses in a new and foreign culture.
We miss our kids. We would no doubt miss them if we were in the States, because they are at that stage of life where they go off to college or move out on their own, but the fact remains that we moved the nest away from them, and the only nest they can “fly home to” is in another country, and one they don’t know. We are profoundly grateful for e-mail and internet phone calling services… But sometimes it would be so nice just to have them stop by for the day…and not feel so far away.
Some things one cannot add to a list, and compute. There is no math for it.
At the same time, we are aware that we do not sacrifice nearly as much, in some ways, as missionaries of 50 or 100 years ago--or as much as colleagues in the truly difficult areas of the world.
And then there’s the fact that we can never repay our Lord for what He has done for us. We always owe Him “nothing less than everything.”
All in all, we feel blessed. We have all we need. In fact, we have so much more than most around us that it is almost embarrassing. We are delighted, at our age, to get to do a “new adventure,” and still have the health and energy to do it. (No extra energy, mind you, just enough.) We feel privileged to have gotten out of the “U.S. rat race” and into uncharted territory where we can try to go at a reasonable pace, and where what we do is unique and fulfilling.
Some days the sacrifices bite more than others. Some days it would be really nice to “go home”…but only for a day! What price can be put on getting to do what one really believes in and wants to do? What price do you put on being exactly where you think God wants you to be and serving?
So there are no math computations that really work. We win: we sacrifice, and win.
Jesus mentioned that kind of math, I think.
