Anyway. I’m back here
now and within 3 days we hosted a small but mighty delegation from my own
Heartland Presbyterian Church in Clive.
It was a varied and interesting week which flew by. I posted lots of photos in an album on
facebook so please go check them out.
And tomorrow (the 21st) we get to host a new
group of folks who will do dental workshops in a couple of schools. We will
be in Las Delicias and Colon. We will be
with the children at the school in the mornings and with their parents doing
workshops in the afternoon. I’m very
much looking forward to learning about this group – their history as well as
their hopes for future work.
So – with the couple of days in between our delegations, we
had some commitments: some formal (like the great meeting held in Corozal) and
some not so formal. One of the not so
formal events is what I want to share today.
We were invited to go to La Llanes. It was a social invitation. They wanted to share some sweet corn with
us. This was an invitation out of love and
friendship and gratitude. Some of you
who regularly read my blogs have an idea of who they are because I’ve written
about them before. They are a small
community of 24 extremely poor families.
Most of them related - as off-shoot communities often are. Their community is way off the beaten path and
down a “road” that scares the be-jeebers out of me even when that “road” is
compacted and dry – but WORSE when the “road” is wet and muddy. Which, of course, it is now – being 3+ months
into the rainy season.
Bless the Pastoral Team’s hearts … they asked Alejandro to
drive us. Now, mind you, this does not
make the stretch of road any less scary.
I just get to have my heart attack standing in the back of the pick-up
rather than driving. Long story short –
we made it safely both in and out of the community – me with my eyes closed and
praying as we fish-tailed and danced in the 100 yards that are the worst. Thank you Alejandro. I taught you well. But even YOU were scared …
admit it!! Haha.
The trick is to STAY IN THE RUTS!!!!
(And for the record: I don’t mind fish-tailing in mud – there is no getting around that because there is mud everywhere this time of year. We have a great pick-up truck with a strong engine and 4x4 and I’ve learned quickly how best to not get stuck in spite of the fish-tailing … but when you fish-tail with a mountain you can touch from the driver’s seat on one side and a long drop off within a couple of feet on the other – that is what makes my heart beat fast.)
But I digress from my original intent of this blog …
I LOVE going to La Llanes.
I love the people there. No
offense to anyone else in the communities because I have a great love for all
of them – but there is something about these people. Perhaps it is in part because they are such a
small community. And if there is an
event – or you visit … almost everyone shows up.
And from our very first visit – when we had never even met
them – we felt a kinship. They were warm
– greeting us with hugs – they quickly shared their senses of humor (which here
often takes a LONG time to emerge with strangers).
So this day – this invitation to share their sweet corn – we
could not refuse. We didn’t want to
refuse. This invitation is even more special in the
fact that we all know that with the drought – corn did not grow very well. Losses ranged from 25% to 90%. We know they suffered loss. But they wanted to share.
Recently, I read an article shared on Facebook saying how the
poor seem to be more generous in their charitable giving and generosity proportionate
to their income than the rich. Having
lived here permanently for almost four years – this did not surprise me.
But the timing of this invitation was within a couple of
days of this article.
We have poor in the States.
No doubt. But not like the folks
in La Llanes.
On the table there was a ton of foods! This food was for us as well as the rest of
the community – which is another oddity: often we are invited to share a snack
or a meal and WE are fed and everyone else looks on or leaves us alone while we
eat (such is the custom here in El Salvador).
But here they shared with everyone in the community. On the table:
a huge bucket of corn on the cob, a huge stack of ‘riguas’ (like a
potato pancake but made with corn), atol de elote (a hot and very thick corn
based drink), tamales (which I got to help make to the delight of the ladies
working) and tortas (a corn based fried patty with sugar on top YUMMY!!)
Tamales
Riguas
Atol de elote
Tortas de elote
Was I concerned about consuming so many corn products? A bit.
But that did not stop me from enjoying all the gifts. We all sat around the table talking and
eating. Then a man got up and picked up
a small ‘guitar’ and started tuning up.
In the corner of the building we were in (which was someone’s house that
also serves as their place of worship) there was a regular guitar, a bass, a conga
type drum, a ‘set’ of 2 drums with cymbols and a cowbell, and a couple of other
traditional percussion instruments.
People started to pick all those things up. They were asking people to sing … but no one
had the ‘song book’ so no one really wanted to commit to singing … but there happened
to be a visitor from San Felipe in the village.
And he has a reputation for singing … (I did not know this – even though
I’ve known this man for a very long time!) and he was asked to sing. After a wee bit of arm twisting (not much
really haha) – he said he would.
Within minutes the music was in full swing and we enjoyed at
least 8 songs –
What fun.
Sadly, Cecilia had a meeting she had to attend so we had to
leave.
I very often feel overwhelmed with love here: friendship, generosity and a welcome that is
deeper than I can express.
It is times like these that make it so hard to leave.
I have been truly blessed.
1 comment:
Kathy, thank you for sharing this post about the people in La Llanes. Many of your posts are so touching, like this one. It is SO true how the poor are so much more generous in proportion to what they have > pp who have more, especially in El Salvador - they can teach classes in generosity here. Fresh atol is so yummy, isn't it? One of my favorite foods ever in E.S.
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