Six Feet Under
Generally the mention of an older man being six feet under ground would elicit feelings of sorrow and sympathy. When our team heard the news, we were pumped.
The site of our third latrine is in the backyard of an elderly couple’s property. They have a daughter that spends much of her time in their house, a son who works construction in Trujillo, and at least two grandchildren. The older man was ecstatic about the prospect of the new latrine, and he delightedly showed us around his property in search of the perfect location. As we marked out the 2 x 2 meter square, he offered his services and those of his son to help dig the hole.
We were excited about having his son onboard, picturing an experienced, strapping young construction worker. But we exchanged some skeptical smiles at the thought of this hobbled old gentleman with a pick-axe and a shovel. We weren’t expecting his contribution to be much beyond his enthusiasm and some words of wisdom. This couldn’t have been more incorrect.
We were greeted yesterday with the sight of the elderly man, shirtless, in the bottom of an almost entirely completed hole. The son was working along-side, but the alacrity with which his father was beating the ground with the pick, and the rippling muscles barely contained by his aged Peruvian skin, identified the real power-house of this operation. We self-consciously hopped into the hole to give them a breather, knowing that progress was actually going to slow with inexperienced young gringos manning the shovels. The grandfather chuckled to himself as he watched us dig.
This was hardly the first time that the incredible Peruvian vitality took us by surprise. Two Peruvian brothers dug the first latrine’s hole in only three hours—a feat that our team of six struggled to accomplish in three days. We were assisted in digging the second hole by a nursing mother. She would remove the baby from her teat, work her shift with the shovel, and replace the baby during her break. On the work-day to repair the water-system, we passed her seventy year-old mother walking to the dig site armed with not one, but two shovels.
The individuals in Ciudad de Dios lack many basic resources, from health-care to education. But at least among the families we have had the pleasure of knowing from the latrine project, one resource they do not lack is resilience. Many of our projects are made possible by their incredible work ethic and fortitude. As privileged, educated volunteers and donors it is easy to look upon beneficiaries of development projects as needy, helpless or inferior. But it is important to remember that having need does not make you needy, requiring help does not make you helpless, and being a member of a low socio-economic stratum does not make you inferior.
Needless to say, as I attempted to shovel dirt out of the hole even half as fast as my elderly Peruvian counterpart, my shirt stayed on.
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