This Experience is everything except
easy…. September 21, 2012
I left the Capital this morning to travel
back to site. It is always a long day when I have to travel 3 plus hours on a
bus alone. The people I have met since I have joined Peace Corps have changed
my life for the better. Every person in my community means something to me. I
just have connected with some more than others.
A lot of the men in the community I do not
talk to because they are men and I am a women and it is weird and out of nature
to have a male-female friendship. So for me to be able to connect with a man on
a non-romantic level was very important to me. (I do not want to mention names
on this blog so I will name my friend “Purely amazing”, because he is purely an
amazing person).” Purely amazing” became a friend of mine when I lived next
door to him. His wife and I were also friends and I loved going to their house
to drink terere. They were the sweetest couple and reminded me a lot of my mom
and dad. Their love was pure and he was not just another man in my community
but “my go to guy”. “Purely amazing” become more of a friend when we spent
hours, days and weeks working on my house so that I could move in. He is the hardest
working man I know in my community. He did not need to drink on his days off,
but spend time with his family and friends. Lucky enough I was one of his
friends. He was always willing to open up his house and invite me to eat with
his family. When we worked together, we would laugh and talk for hours. He
would sing a once popular song “te quiero tus ojos” over and over again. He has
the best spirit I have met. I would see him working hard, but always around 1pm
he would pass on his moto to go pick up his wife from town. Whenever I saw him
he would wave, smile, yell my name and tell me to come later and drink terere.
We would talk about my frustrations with the community and how we could get
them motivated. “Purely amazing” helped me finish my garden, and showed me how
he kept his so nicely. I spent the Thursday of Semana Santa with him and his
family. “Purely amazing” loved meat (carne) and would always yell “Ale, vamos a
comer carne, mucho carne… cancho.. que rico” ( alex, lets eat meat, a lot of
meat.. pig. How delicious”) I would always laugh and say “no, lets eat
vegetables, they are better”. Back and forth we would go until he got his meat
and I got my salad. He always reminded me of a big kid, who just loved kids. He
had so much patience. So much love for others.
I left my site four months ago. Apparently
“purely amazing” got sick one day and was taken to the military hospital in the
Capital. He spent 3 months there, fighting for his life against cancer. When he
finally got some strength ( 4 days ago) he came back to my site. The
disappointing part is that I had left site to go to the capital for a meeting.
I was hoping to come back today and find him sitting in his house recovering. I
was excited to catch up, joke around and spend time with my favorite senor. I
arrived in my neighboring site to find out that “purely amazing” had passed
away in the morning. I was speechless and hoped that this was just a
miscommunication. So as I walked back to my host moms’ house, the reality was
settling in, that my favorite senor had passed.
I walked up to his house to find most of my
community in black and praying. I could see his wife, but did not have it in me
to see the open casket. So I stood there in silence, and cried. I had no words in English or Spanish to
express my sadness, loss, confusion and disappointment.
Its days like this, which shake me up and
allow me to reflect on the life I live. It does not matter what country I am
in, how rich or how poor, how far or how close to home I am… I will always be
faced with the sweetest and bitterest moments that life has to offer. I will
see love and hate, I will see life and death, I will see it all no matter where
I am in this world. It is reality and there is nothing I can do about it.
So I want to dedicate the remaining of my service to
“purely amazing”. He inspired me to always stay calm, work hard and have a good
time. I connected with him and his family on such a natural level. I am so
happy I was able to meet him and share the time I did with him. God Bless him
and his family.
September 22, 2012 ‘
Today I went to the funeral and burial for
“purely amazing”. It was the hardest day of my Peace Corps service yet. My
communities came together to say goodbye and it was not easy. It started at his
house, and we had a possession to the chapel.
From there everyone got in their cars (15), motorcycle( 20) and two
buses to follow the casket to the cemetery.
To stand there sad myself, watching my
communities torn with sadness was the hardest thing I
have experienced in a while. The people I was surrounded by are people I
respect and love, and to see them upset makes me upset.
Today was hard… we have lost a great man in
our community and all I can do now is support my community as the days go on. I
have so many great memories with “purely amazing” and I am truly honored to
have met him while being in Peace Corps Paraguay.
No comments:
Post a Comment