On a warm, sticky morning in mid-January of this past year, I groggily awoke in the bed I shared with my fellow volunteer Kristina, shifting carefully on the mattress carefully woven together out of clothesline so as not to wake my sleeping counterpart. We were on vacation with the Cruz family in a the small rural village that is home to their “papi” Don Santos and many of their family members – a town without electricity and running water, where the rising and setting of the sun dictate the schedule of the day. Get up at dawn, haul water, sit, talk, eat, walk slowly, sit, wash, visit neighbors, drink Coca-cola… and do it all again…
As I watched my then-seventeen-year-old “daughter” Dalila snap into action that morning, hauling water from the well for us to cook, wash and bathe with, scrubbing her younger siblings' dirty clothes on a rock and laying them out to dry in the hot sun, and bathing and dressing the
little ones, I felt like I truly understood for the first time the gift that the Farm has given to our children, and how different Dalila’s life would have been had she never been given these opportunities. As I sat in plastic chairs, chatting with her and her cousins – girls of her own age or younger, almost all of whom already have children of their own, who look worn with the weight of burdens they are too young to bear – I saw my bright-eyed “daughter” with new eyes.
This is, after all, the same girl who cleaned up after her mother gave birth to her youngest sister, who effectively raised her siblings until they arrived under the Farm’s care, who arrived grades behind in school but quickly made up for lost time and is now graduating from the most prestigious non-bilingual high school in La Ceiba. This is also the one who likes to wear her purple platform shoes and straighten her hair and prefers not to eat egg yolks – who is the president of our parish’s youth group, loved among her classmates, and the recipient of boundless attention from the Farm’s littlest ones each time we are able to make the trip back to Trujillo, who hopes to study business administration next year at the local University. The Farm asked me to be Dalila’s “encargada” – her caretaker – this year, but the truth is that she has seen much more in her eighteen years of life than I have in mine, and that she is often the one who is my teacher in goodness, faithfulness, and generosity. Dalila impresses me almost daily with the depth of her faith and the generosity of her heart, and she is a true example of the incredible difference the Farm can make in the life of a child.
I believe so very much that if even one life is truly better because of this project, all of the work and money and time and tears are well worth the effort. And when I watched this incredible young woman walk across the stage and receive her diploma this past month, when I saw her celebrate with the volunteers and friends and family members gathered in her honor, and when I think about the bright future that lies before her, I know that it is all worth it, a thousand times over, that this work is important and meaningful, and that there is so much hope woven through it all. Our deepest thanks to all of those who make possible the opportunities that have changed Dalila’s life and the lives of so many others. May God bless you mil veces, a thousand times over, for the kindness you have shown us.
Congratulations, Dalila! May God bless you infinitely as you continue to grow in faith, love and gratitude.
As I watched my then-seventeen-year-old “daughter” Dalila snap into action that morning, hauling water from the well for us to cook, wash and bathe with, scrubbing her younger siblings' dirty clothes on a rock and laying them out to dry in the hot sun, and bathing and dressing the
little ones, I felt like I truly understood for the first time the gift that the Farm has given to our children, and how different Dalila’s life would have been had she never been given these opportunities. As I sat in plastic chairs, chatting with her and her cousins – girls of her own age or younger, almost all of whom already have children of their own, who look worn with the weight of burdens they are too young to bear – I saw my bright-eyed “daughter” with new eyes.
This is, after all, the same girl who cleaned up after her mother gave birth to her youngest sister, who effectively raised her siblings until they arrived under the Farm’s care, who arrived grades behind in school but quickly made up for lost time and is now graduating from the most prestigious non-bilingual high school in La Ceiba. This is also the one who likes to wear her purple platform shoes and straighten her hair and prefers not to eat egg yolks – who is the president of our parish’s youth group, loved among her classmates, and the recipient of boundless attention from the Farm’s littlest ones each time we are able to make the trip back to Trujillo, who hopes to study business administration next year at the local University. The Farm asked me to be Dalila’s “encargada” – her caretaker – this year, but the truth is that she has seen much more in her eighteen years of life than I have in mine, and that she is often the one who is my teacher in goodness, faithfulness, and generosity. Dalila impresses me almost daily with the depth of her faith and the generosity of her heart, and she is a true example of the incredible difference the Farm can make in the life of a child.
I believe so very much that if even one life is truly better because of this project, all of the work and money and time and tears are well worth the effort. And when I watched this incredible young woman walk across the stage and receive her diploma this past month, when I saw her celebrate with the volunteers and friends and family members gathered in her honor, and when I think about the bright future that lies before her, I know that it is all worth it, a thousand times over, that this work is important and meaningful, and that there is so much hope woven through it all. Our deepest thanks to all of those who make possible the opportunities that have changed Dalila’s life and the lives of so many others. May God bless you mil veces, a thousand times over, for the kindness you have shown us.
Congratulations, Dalila! May God bless you infinitely as you continue to grow in faith, love and gratitude.
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