What An Experience!

First of all, I want to extend a thank you to all those who have supported the efforts of Project Restore. Simply reading the stories here and raising awareness by sharing the information is invaluable and directly supports the mission of Project Restore, I thank you for that.

As we were driving to the village the first day there, I had my first sights of the area. I had a lot of mixed feelings on the way to the village. There were signs of poverty all around, and people trying to meet basic needs, such as those hauling water everywhere. I had some feelings of being overwhelmed and caught myself thinking how can we make a difference when the problem is so vast. I didn’t know what to expect for the week or know if these feelings would change.

One of the children in the host home I stayed in had contracted Malaria when he was around 2 years old. I would guess his age to be about 15 now. I had heard the numbers on malaria before, but I don’t think it really registered with me until I started hearing the stories and seeing first hand what it can do. This child was now physically and mentally challenged, for the rest of his life. What I imagine was once a vibrant 2-year old was now an adolescent that spent most of his time in the house and got around by scooting on the floor. Bitten by a mosquito, infected with a parasite, and a life changed forever. We all heard many stories like this. The 400 mosquito nets that the team passed out meant so much, to the community and us.

Repairing the well that was previously mentioned in the blog was one of the greatest experiences, to see water flowing again, and then the source being constantly used after it was repaired was unexplainable. Working hand and hand with the locales was great, I learned a lot about the general process and basic parts of the well. Just the day before, a group of us walked with some of the villagers down to the water source they had been using since the well was down. It was approximately 1 mile round trip. During the walk, we crossed paths with many people hauling water, mostly women and children. I remember seeing a woman with a baby on her back and a 40lb jug of water on her head. I remember two boys we stopped to talk to that had quit school to haul water. They made about 15-20 trips a day hauling about 3-4 jugs at a time tied to their bicycles. The basic need for water consumes a lot of time and energy. By fixing the well, I know we made a lot of peoples lives a little bit easier.

The entire week was great, just quickly running back some of the memories here; boda boda rides, painting the roof, rain harvesting tank, playing American football, the basketball court, getting the bases ready for the tanks, boda boda rides, and on and on. The last day there, we had the opportunity to offer some words of encouragement to the students. Knowing they face a greater challenge than most in the U.S. do, we tried to encourage them to continue education and dream big. They are beautiful people, who accept and embrace where they are and the circumstances they are in, not knowing to a certain degree how the rest of the world lives and meets basic needs such as getting water, food, etc. While in London airport, it hit me, sitting there with tears coming to my eyes, realizing how difficult it must be to overcome the circumstances they are in, realizing that they face the same obstacles as they did yesterday, many of which are meeting basic needs to get through that day. Living should be more than surviving.

I woke my first morning back at 3 am unable to sleep, so I went ahead and started preparing for work. As I was getting ready, I was thinking every step along the way, how much we have compared to those in the village. The things I typically take for granted, I thought twice about that morning, the refrigerator, electricity, clean water out of the faucet, a toilet, coffee maker, warm house, clothes, a shower, soap. As I picked what I was going to wear today, I looked at the stacks of clothes I rarely wear in my closet and think about how the school children might have 1-2 outfits, 1 of them for school. Its a different world here.

I’m confident that the efforts of our team impacted many people. I hope to be part of more trips like this, and have already found myself thinking, “When can I go back”. We have the ability to make a difference, we made a difference, and we can touch many lives. I encourage anyone interested in these efforts to join us. I know that each one of us can bring something valuable to a trip like this. Every person on our team touched someone’s life while we were there and this was clearly evident when saying our good byes. Though we face a vast problem, we can make a difference, one person at a time.

Jeff