Often I would bring my son down to East Hastings in Vancouver. A seriously depressed area of a beautiful city. Drug addiction and poverty in plain site with all its desperate rawness. People with empty eyes and desolate souls; each fighting their own demons.
We called it the Gratitude Walk (or drive) depending on the trip. As you traveled from East to West Hastings, there was a boundary road that you crossed. It seemed life changed colors, tone and feel in an instant. It’s a fine line between the penthouse and the shit house and in this case it was one street.
What I wanted my son to learn from these experiences was how circumstances, choices, dreams, direction of life, can change in an instant.To be grateful for all he had and the opportunities presented to him. To understand how quickly it could be all gone. To understand it did not make ‘them’ bad people and ‘us’ good; it simply made our struggles different. We would talk about the people we saw, in terms of what they might have been in a different time and place.
To this very day, my son will speak to the man climbing out of the garbage dumpster and the man in the 3-piece-suit with the same level of respect. Eye contact and a hand-shake; human being to human being.
This brings me to today…..
Today, we delivered the last of the Christmas hampers into the barrios. On the very last delivery, in the home of an elderly, frail lady I learned that she does not have a bed. She has only a bed frame with wood slats where she lays each night to sleep. She pads it with cardboard. No box spring, no mattress, no blankets, no mosquito netting only a simple sheet and two small throw pillows to lay her head on.
Her home is a small, humble bamboo structure, without water or bathroom; but she keeps it neat and tidy. My friend asked her if the mosquitoes were bad at night; she said they were terrible.
This lady, with so very little, cares for many of her grand kids and the neighborhood kids as best as she can and when she hugs you, it is from her heart.
I let her know that sponsors have given me beds for people without; I would like to bring her a mattress. Within an hour, the dear lady received a mattress, sheets, blanket and pillows to lay her head on this very evening.
As we drove home from the barrio, I processed everything I saw today; the people I met, the stories they told, the smiles they wore and the hugs we shared.
I could not help but think of my Gratitude Drives with my son years ago. I realize my troubles are small compared to so many. My annoyances seem so petty after a day like today.
Just what my heart needed…
Just what my soul needed, a Gratitude Trip into the barrios of Ecuador; I needed to get back to basics.
I am thankful I was born in Canada; thankful to the people of Ecuador that have taught me so much about life.
Forever grateful for so many of you that donate, support and believe. I simply act as the conduit through to where it needs to be.
Like East Hastings, the contrast between the bamboo home I left and the concrete oasis I return to is a fine line separated this time by dirt roads, by chance and by the fact that I was born into another country.
Today she and I connected human being to human being.
Merry Christmas Everyone xo
