The sign of a brighter future

On our way into the build area today, we saw two rainbows shining through the rain sprinkles and the mountains. When I was thinking about what was at the end of a rainbow, I was reminded of hope. Hope for safety, hope for health, hope for security, hope for the children …. Hope for a better future.
 
Hope can be seen in the families with whom we’ve been working each day through their incredible endurance and strength, their children and the way they want to share with us.
I was reminded of Carlos and his family, one of our Habitat homeowners. We have been working with him for the past two days and today we had the special chance to meet his family. He and his wife Maria and their two children, Paula (age 9) and Caleb (age 2) will be moving into one of the houses we are working on this week. Their story has been a wonderful way to see and understand the impact hope can have on a family.

They shared with us their precious story of how they fell in love. Carlos and Maria were both invited to a wedding 13 years ago as a groomsman and a bridesmaid. They walked down the aisle together during the wedding and it was love at first sight. Carlos lived in Costa Rica and Maria lived in Nicaragua so they had to get to know each other over a great distance. Within three months, Carlos asked for Maria’s hand in marriage and her parents asked him to court her. Their courtship lasted three years and then they got married. They have lived in a few areas throughout Costa Rica while Carlos worked at a banana plantation and now they live in Santa Elena with their two children. Maria is a housekeeper and Carlos is a security guard.    




What struck all of us most about this family, in addition to their sweet story, was their never-ending hope for a better future. Carlos has been working each day with us at the site after working an overnight shift. He works at his job from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day, then rides his motorcycle two hours to the build site to be with us and work all day before going back to his job (squeezing in an hour or so of sleep). During downtime at his security job, he is studying for his 10th grade exams so he can continue his education and improve his family’s status.

In order to understand why it seems crazy to us that he’s working so hard on site, you need to know how heavy the clay dirt is and how deep the holes we’re digging are. It’s difficult to explain the work without actually being here, but I’m hoping you’ll take my word for it – it’s hard and exhausting work. But Carlos does all of this, his job and school work with a smile on his face. He has impressed upon all of us the importance of believing in a better future and having hope in those around him.

As I think about these beautiful and incredible families it really comes down to a reminder that there is always hope and giving up isn’t an option. For Carlos and Maria, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is having a stable, healthy and safe place to call home so their family, Paula and Caleb included, can have a better future.

By Cristen Incitti, Global Village trip leader, Twin Cities Habitat