Miquela's Adventures: Braided hair

Another adventurous weekend gone by. We packed up the car on Saturday afternoon and headed out of town. We each taught two classes in various locations and then settled down in Wagi Pasi for our night in hammocks. As we slowly get to know the people in the villages we feel much more welcome (duh!) and much more comfortable. We are slowly picking up our Taki-Taki and Saramaka and are able to communicate more and more. The highlight of every weekend spent in Wagi Pasi is waking up early to go to the creek to bathe. Because it is in the forest, the water is quite cold and is a very refreshing wake up! It feels "natural" to be washing in water that you find rather than the water that comes out of taps...and it is very peaceful. It's especially fun to listen to the women laugh about their husbands and the latest silly things their children have done.
This weekend we also began work in a village further up the road called Prosperity. Our "home base" there is at Hilda's house, one of the women in the Book 3 study circle I tutor. She is an extremely smart woman with a very strong character, so needless to say, we get along very well! Every Sunday we eat lunch at her house, and since we felt bad that they had to cook for us, we offered to help. I don't know if it was any help but it sure gave them some entertainment. Hilda gave us the beans to cut up and her daughters sat around and smiled as we attempted to cut them as thin as we had seen them cut the beans. We were completely unsuccessful but had fun doing it...and at least we made some contribution to our meal.
While I tutored yet another wonderful multi-lingual session of Book 3, Denissa and Victoria got their hair braided. Sunday is the big hair day here because everyone changes their hair for the new week at school...boys and girls!
We did our afternoon classes and finally drove home, with the wind blowing through the car and the sun setting, exhausted and blissful after another wonderful weekend.
It's funny how exhausting it is to sleep in Wagi Pasi. We hypothesized that it was because we couldn't sleep properly in the hammocks, but with more thought we realized that it is also emotionally tiring. It comes back to that constant debate about material comfort and possessions. Do people out in the villages really need all the material comforts some of us have grown so accustomed to? We sometimes see their life as being difficult and tiring, but if they don't know another way of life is it tiring to them? And in the end, it is their detachment from material comforts and wealth that enable them to be such spiritual and generous people. We see how little they have and how much they are willing to give and we feel ashamed at how much we have in comparison. We feel that what we are doing is not enough, but then there isn't much else us 18 year-old girls from other countries can do! Anyway, it is all these thoughts mixed together which make it a bit tiring, but the fun and cultural experiences we have make it all worth it.

Lesson Learned:
This is a bit of cliche but it sure is true - Life is wonderful, but it is short. We must live every day to the fullest and treat others as if they were brothers and sisters. If you want to accomplish something, go for it. Don't hold back and don't get distracted!