day1 and day2

Still Dreaming

I wake up and I see a cup of water next to my bed. One of the house maids in the lodge I’m staying must have snuck into my room while I was asleep and placed on the dresser for me incase I got thirsty in the morning. Good thing they did. I woke up in nervous shock realizing I wasn’t home anymore. This wasn’t Kansas………..or er a Florida, Rhode island, Oh I don’t know! This isn’t America! I reached into my bag for the closest thing that could bring me back to normalcy and I found it: chocolate! I ripped open a bar of milk chocolate and ate like the last ration on earth, swallowed, and then gave head to the pillow. Ecstasy found me in a bar of chocolate. I begin my day by showering, but this time it’s fast and sad. I imagine the people I’ve seen on my first day without showers or running water. The rule is your power and water are rationed. You have no clue of when your power or water will be given to you so it’s best you stay up and hope it doesn’t turn off when you need it most. Imagine having to get ready for work and in that morning both your water and electricity is turned off, and you have 4 children to get going including yourself and working wife? Now imagine your power and electricity going on after everyone is out about their daily business? This life is far too common with the people I’ve encountered. I shower with sadness because I’m thinking of the little boys and girls I see walking to school early in the morning to their 3 hour destination and wondering if they got to take a clean shower or had electricity. I grew up poor. Dirt poor by American standards, and somehow I’ve come to see poverty on a whole other level. What scares me is my guide has alluded many times to this isn’t as bad as you will later see. I’m terrified but at this point I have to see all that I can. The one thing that makes me feel a great deal of sorrow for Americans is they too are suffering in a different way. The people in Bulawayo have a spirit about them that is far more valuable to me than any luxurious lifestyle could ever buy. THEY TALK TO EACH OTHER. They socialize and debate. They give each other compliments along the way. The women are not so interested in a mans capital as they are interested in his manhood he wears on his face. So it’s a toss up. I would rather live poor and maintain basic and amazing human interaction than to have money and walk past people, or only give the time of day to someone cute with coach smeared across her body. While walking down the many streets I encountered a dusty bus filled with children getting ready for military training. As a past Americorp worker their faces were quickly visually replaced with the students I serve in the Mt. Hope area in providence. This is day two and so much has been thrown in my direction I can barely think straight. The one lesson I did learn today was although the people might seem like they are struggling to the outside world……………they are just fine, and need no help. Somehow I feel we as Aemricans need more help than they do. The blacks are always heading toward the sun…………………………next time.