Finding My Hands

Finding My Hands

Sacred Activism

Trust...

      Listen...

            Sit down...

                  Do nothing...

The words flowed effortlessly from his lips toward my heart and the effect was as invigorating as a cold bag of freshly poured coconut water in the hot Salvadoran summer.

"I may not have as much money or a nice home like others. I cannot give you much food and I don't know how to read or write. But my heart is big and I will share whatever I can." Nina Otinia spoke these words to me the very first day I sat down upon her torn hammock, watching the chickens peck the ground beneath me as her beautiful compassion danced around in my head. 

The two years I spent in rural Morazan, El Salvador are worth more to me than any words can convey.

Listening to Bunker Roy speak tonight, I felt, "Finally..."

Finally, someone understands the benefits of doing nothing. 

You see, for a full four months before I began to attempt sustainable development projects in El Salvador, I did nothing but sit with the people of my community.

All alone, as the only "white" female in my village, I realized that there would never be anything I could do to "help" my new friends if I did not understand their way of life: How they worked, what time they woke, what made them smile, what made them cry, where the cows grazed, who was in charge of what, and why it was all worth doing.

By walking beside them at 5am to the coffee fields, I gained the respect of my new friends. By milking a cow, I gained the trust of the people, the animals, the land. By sitting and listening, we became one.

Bunker Roy has started the Barefoot College in India, supporting alternative, creative ways of thinking and finding solutions to problems in rural areas by embracing the source. Bunker empowers Grandmas, by investing in their character and wisdom, thereby lighting an entire village...both metaphorically and literally. He has created a solar energy movement. 

I began going barefoot in El Salvador for many reasons. The top two were:

1. Everyone in my village went barefoot.

2. I wanted to connect more deeply with the earth. 

I have fallen in love with Bunker's concept of the Barefoot College for many reasons, as well. The top two are:

1. Value people for their compassion, confidence, soul and wisdom. This is the bare truth. Anyone can enroll for a certificate.

2. Trust. Without trust there will be no ownership and without ownership there will be no sustainability. 

Being alone in El Salvador, while sometimes the most painful nights of my life, was such a blessing. The life and the work I had was something that lives with my forever. Everyday a new challenge. Everyday a new experience. Every minute, learning. 

As Bunker speaks about the Grandma women engineers blossoming around the world, I flash back to El Salvador. I'm sitting on a long wooden bench propped up again a mud hut and Nina Otinia is walking around her yard collecting leaves and telling me stories about Morazan. 

She walks back up to the water basin and reaches for my empty coffee mug.

"These leaves are great for cleaning because they are tough and have a useful soap-like substance. Plus, they're free!" Nina Otinia says to me laughing to hide her insecurity at having little financial resources.

But I'm the one who is insecure as I wonder what chemicals are in my bottle of Dawn, as I notice the wealth of knowledge she has gained from the trees.

"...and so, I started digging wells." Bunker keeps me walking along with him.

I came back to New York 9 months ago... And I wondered what to do with my hands.

Here they type, moisturized and clean.

I looked at them as Bunker Roy spoke of digging wells.

And I longed for my organic compost-making days. And I felt Marjori's hand upon mine as we ran laughing to the next collecting of scraps. 

There is something so beautiful of working at the bottom. Of using your hands and doing manual labor. Sometimes, I lose my hands in New York city. Hands that can draw. Hands that embrace nourishing animals. Hands that feel our earth. Hands that hold other hands, of other women, of children, of people who want to share.

Because much of my new world does not understand the privilege I had to work alongside these Salvadoran women. Because a resume does not do justice to the wealth of knowledge I gained by doing nothing but listen for four months in a land of ancestry and wisdom. Because a certificate does not explain the best two years of education I have ever received. 

What an honor to be in the presence of Bunker Roy- to hear someone speak from the gut, without holding back, about the truth about sustainable development. 

     Because it does need to be bottom-up.

                And we do need to listen.

                        And our biggest challenge is our patience. 

When the world starts to open their ears and hearts to the voices of people like Bunker Roy, we will be much better prepared to tackle such challenges as world hunger and world peace.

I am so grateful for having found my hands again tonight.

Bunker Roy, Barefoot at CollegeDeepak Homebase

Bunker has encouraged me not to lose hope in a city where you can easily be lost. He has reminded me that I know Otinia, Nena, Mirna and their young children who they are working to support. These are my friends. Right now, we are small. But together, one day, we will be something beautiful: http://www.byhappiness.org