This may sound like an odd word, as a Canadian who is in El Salvador with a purpose to build homes alongside families who do not have a dry, safe place to lay their heads.
One mother shared with me her concern for her mentally disabled daughter, who is the same age as me. Her concern as a mother is that if she were to die, her daughter would not be able to take care of herself, particularly in regards to the threat of rape. In their current living conditions, their structure that does not have a lock, which would enable someone to take advantage of her daughter without someone there to protect her. But this personal story doesn’t lend one to think of “abundance”, but if you look past the materialistic emphasis when thinking of this word, you’ll see it. This mother has an abundance of care for her daughter, in how she makes sure her daughter is included. While the young kids were all playing with a piñata at our meet-the-family event, she made sure her daughter was also a part of it. This adult daughter, is a kid at heart. I witnessed her abundant joy in the simplest things. Yesterday, I was colouring with her nieces, and when she joined, holding a green crayon, she made the smallest scribble on the page. Her face lit up and she had an abundant outburst of joy. You could see joy in her toothless smile, and hear it in her gleeful laugh.
The first day when we gathered to meet the families, the food was served in abundance. It made me emotional to see these families who have so very little, to offer so much to us, out of gratitude, love, and celebration. Yesterday, at our first build site, the children flocked around a few of the ladies from our team. Kids ranging from 3 months to 12 years. They coloured, made name bracelets, and paper airplanes. As I was walking around taking photos, I joined in with the boys who were flying the planes and despite our language barrier, we ended up evolving our interaction into a game of keep away. There was abundant joy and laughter.
At lunch time, as all three build teams assembled for lunch together, a neighbouring house brought out wooden furniture for us to rest on. He first brought out a couch, which was such a lovely gesture. And then a chair…and another chair…and another chair. He brought out his best, for a bunch of strangers he had never met. A team member shared that she received an apple from a child who played with the girls on one of our build teams. After asking her grandmother if the gift was okay, she washed two apples in water from the well and blessed the girls with them. “That was the best apple I ever had. I ate it all but the stem!” Another example of an abundance of giving, and sacrifice.
There is also an abundance of community. At our group talk last night, we heard of one house recipient who was going along with a member of our team to screw two sheets of metal together around the perimeter of the house. At each corner of the house stood another lady. Friends, who were encouraging the soon-to-be new homeowner, as she progressed through this task. And in our interviews with the families after the houses are built, we hear their hearts and their stories. They all have an abundance of gratitude as they share how a house will greatly impact their lives…to help them be able to raise a family in a house without having to move locations, to have a cement floor, to have a lock on a door, to have a window that opens and closes.
When we consider purchasing a new house back home in Canada, how often do we evaluate how many bathrooms and bedrooms there are in relation to people living there, to optimize the space each individual can live in? These houses we are building are not large. One house that is being built this week will house 9 family members. The toilet we had access to for two of the morning build sites was not at the house we were building. It was around back, down into a valley and up the other side to a neighbouring house. A cement toilet in a three walled structure with a piece of fabric for a door. A community outhouse. There is abundance in simplicity.
As I introduce myself to the family members during our interviews, I am sharing about how despite the difference in countries, we serve the same God. The God of abundant love, and abundant grace. Praise be to Him, our Provider!
Nicole
