Necesitar: To Need

What is need? What is necessary for having "quality of life." I have seen some things in Honduras that, before coming here, I would not have considered to be worth living for, yet here they are. People living amidst mountains of garbage in shack houses or drinking dirty water and eating coffee for breakfast and soda for dinner. Honduras has made me reconsider what I consider life necessities. Here is a quick list of things I have learned to live without (or infrequently).

 

Hot showers (haven't had one since coming her)

Meat (maybe I have eaten it 20 times in 2 months, which is quite luxurious)

Internet everywhere (always gotta walk for it, doesn't always work, another luxury item)

90% of everything I have ever owned

34/35 ties

Air conditioning

Dishwasher

A kitchen that could pass a health code inspection

A dryer

 

Even accounting for things I have foregone, I still live a life of intense luxury. Honduras forces you to come to terms with the excess of life, and to notice what things shouldn't be considered excess. The kids work with don't ever get hot showers, rarely meat, never privacy. The kids I work with are some of the happiest people I know. Who is to say that they are lacking anything, maybe I have just fished shedding everything I have never truly needed. (Still pretty unlikely).

Still. Honduras is pulling the plank from my own eye, as gently as my students remove a Jenga block during one of our games, for fear of leaving nothing standing. Who knows where I will be in a year, well besides still in Honduras. Yet one thing is certain, I am changing more, I am needing less. And I just might be liking it!

 

Post Script: Here are some photos of our private swimming pool and the path to get there!

 

 

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