Maria

This is Maria! Now that a few weeks have passed since we traveled to El Salvador, inevitably the memories have begun to fade. However, I've found that I think of Maria often. I saw something of myself in her.

I watched when we showed up unexpectedly to finish the well in Campanero Dos around 11:30 am. She marched down the little village road, children in tow, going house to house to organize lunch for us. Not only that, but every day we were in her village, Maria hosted lunch, did much of the cleaning up, and hauled her table and chairs from her home to a shady spot under a large tree.

A few days earlier, at the first hygiene training, I watched as she eagerly participated in the group activity of mapping out their community. She sat, sprawled legged on the floor, in a skirt, making a detailed map and trying desperately to get me to understand the legend. Her frustration with my high school Spanish was very apparent, and was something that I shared with her.

In the same hygeine lesson we had a question and answer time with the people of the village. During this, they asked us about what our favorite foods were. Both my friend Hannah and I answered, "cafe!". Sure enough, an hour later, drilling the water well in the rain, out comes Maria bearing a tray of steaming cups of coffee!

I would have loved to grab her for a second, sit down and have a full conversation. However, beyond the language barrier, I didn't see Maria sit down that much. She was always busy, doing dishes, herding her gorgeous children, cooking, watching...I believe that what Maria desperately wanted us to take away, what she really wanted us to understand about her life, was how big the impact was that we made on her life, and her families life. The well we drilled is located in Maria's yard, giving her access to clean water and her community. She was the only woman who spoke at the dedication ceremony. And as Carlos translated, my eyes welled up with tears. She was so passionate in her gratitude, so proud in her thankfulness. She took us over to show us a hand dug well after the ceremony. Her strong arms worked hand over hand to pull up a bucket of brown, murky water. Not only was the water visibly dirty, it was filled with disease causing bacteria, and harmful viruses. This is what Maria really wanted us to see...see the difference we had made, and see how much work was still left to be done.