Worlds Collide

Thursday, December 10, 2009, 9:45am

For a solid 20 minutes, I have been sitting in a storefront that is still being built. Leaning against the raw brick, unfinished wall, sitting on a stone to keep me off the dirt floor - we are grateful the builders had already attached the metal roof to the building. The rain continues to pour from the heavens, the ground is saturated already, we had rain just two days ago. Sitting so near to the ground, amidst the unending rain, I am overwhelmed by the smell of the earth. Fresh, clean, wet, dirt. It almost reminds me of my Mom's garden.

I'm not the only one taking shelter inside this future-store or boutique. With me is a boy who looks like a college student - clearly late for classes, but with the understandable and acceptable excuse of "the rain came!"

There is a middle aged woman, sitting on a small stone similar to my own, in the middle of this "room." She is either a great faker, or else she has somehow managed to fall asleep while sitting on a stone, surrounded by strangers, in the midst of the thunder crashes. In some ways I'm a bit jealous of the ability she has to sleep just where she has happened to be.

Near to the mama is her taxi driver, who has also decided to close his eyes and try to catch some sleep, sitting on top of his motorcycle.

My taxi driver is under the overhang, just outside our door, as if he's keeping watch for the precise moment this rain will end.

There are several others out there near him, and undoubtedly more in the attached rooms to our particular store. We are a hodge-podge of people, all put together unexpectedly. We listen to the lulling sounds of the rain on the roof and the newly paved road.

Occasionally people will pass by on foot - soaking wet. I wonder why they don't stop and take shelter from the rain. But then I realize that rain is a part of life here. Life doesn't stop when the rains come. And neither do they.

Across the road is Enra, where there is processing and manufacturing of Mahogany, and a large forest within the compound as well. It's surrounded by what looks like a 5 or 6 foot wall. I watched at first in surprise as I saw things falling from or off of that wall. I finally realized that what I saw were sticks and branches. Someone was throwing wood over from Enra. A few minutes later, I saw three children climb over the wall, laughing and dancing in the ever-increasing rain. One of the two girls seemed to take rest under a tall tree. The boy and other girl would occasionally dance, especially when a car would pass by - practicing a new dance move, perhaps? But eventually, life beckoned - the responsibility of the task they had been sent on was remembered and they all started loading up on the sticks and branches they'd collected. And in spite of the thunder, lightening or the rain, they started making their way up the road.

A while later, I saw a woman walking up the hill towards us, carrying a heavy load on her back (likely from her garden). She also had an umbrella in her hand, covering her head. It took just a moment to realize the reason - on top of the large sack she carried on her back, was her young baby. Even though she had hundreds of veggies and wood, she still wanted to protect her baby from the rain, without stopping on her journey to get out of the rain. It was both beautiful and heartbreaking.

By 10:15, I was once again on the back of the motorcycle, on my way to UCBC. It was still sprinkling a bit, but compared to the downpour of the past 50 minutes, it wasn't so bad.

On my mind though are the people I saw while sitting in that room, and the ones I shared the room with. Our worlds met for less than an hour. An opportunity we wouldn't have had if it hadn't rained.