Circle of Trust

Imagine a man coming home for dinner at sundown. He comes up to his hut. Imagine his house made of hay and bamboo, two steps up the ground, there’s one front door. Inside there are no rooms, just sections divided in partitions.  There are no interior doors. The ceiling about 3 ft above his head. There are two bamboo benches and a table in the middle. This is where they eat, where his two boys spread their books to study and  receive visitors. No matter what time of day a neighbor or a friend or someone passing through stops by, this man and his family offers them coffee and a piece of bread. He doesn’t have a refrigerator, or a  microwave. In one corner of the eating area is a cabinet to keep their food. The four legs of the cabinet sits on 4 cans with water. The water in the can keeps the ants from crossing and crawling up the legs of the cabinet, and into leftovers, if any. His wife cooks their food on a simple kerosene stove.  The house have no plumbing . They bring in water from the waterwell about 30 feet away from the hut. About 60 feet further is the outhouse.

His house walls are bare except the wall facing east, a cross about 8 inch tall hangs on that wall, below it a shelf about 2 foot wide and 1 foot deep shelf with few unlit candles. Every night the man and his family kneel down and pray in front of this cross.There are 4 to 5 framed pictures around the cross. The pictures look old and faded, maybe pictures of his and his wife’s grandparents. The bamboo floor are slats with half inch of space between, like your deck floor. In the morning you can see and hear his two to four chickens from the slats of the bamboo floor, pecking at the ground for bits of rice that have fallen from the hut. This time however he doesn’t have any chickens. He butchered one of them and his wife cooked it to prepare her sons favorite meal on his birthday.

One chicken (actually a rooster but called him chicken in CoT) they’re particularly fond of is Jabar. Jabar will join their two dogs when they toss bread in the air for the dogs to catch and eat. Jabar will fly above the dogs nuzzle and snap the bread in midair. His two sons get a kick out of that. Sometimes his boys would invite their riends to watch Jabar “rebound” for food. How Jabar learned to snap food in mid-air they’ll never know. Maybe it’s plain desire to eat and survive. Jabar went missing one day and they never saw her again. Some of their  chickens they say were probably eaten by wild animals. Although the man suspects that some distant neighbors might have stolen them, he won’t dwell on these thoughts. ‘Do not harbor ill feelings toward your fellow man’, he would say when other younger man will come to him for advise. This man was respected by his peers due to his kindness. In America we say he would gladly give you the shirt off his back. In his community,  they say, this man will gladly give you the food he’s about to put in his mouth.

His house doesn’t have a bed, which is normal in these parts. He sleeps on the floor. Air breezes through the bamboo slats on hot summer days. In the winter, he lays down on a piece of blanket to keep the chill away.

The man removes his straw hat. Underneath the hat is dark sunburnt face. Imagine his eyes – they llook sad, but only because they’re tired and weary. His eyes are only 35 to 40 years young, but more than two decades of toiling in the field under the hot relentless sun makes him look  much older.

Imagine this man’s wife coming up to him and asks, ‘How is it?’

Without looking at her, as if embarrassed by his lack of better answer, he says ‘we will be fine’. His wife smiles, she leans over and rests her cheeks on his. It was just for a second or two. Imagine the feeling of comfort this man felt over a simple gesture. He may not have much but the love and commitment of his wife brings him unparalleled joy.

She says ‘the kids are waiting, They’re hungry but they insist to wait for you so we can have supper together’.

‘I’ll be right there’, he answers. ‘Let me wash up’.

The man pours water into a wash basin. He avoided looking at his wife’s eyes, afraid that it might betray his thoughts. He’ll wait for a better time to break the news to his wife that out on the field today, he confirmed what he’s been afraid of, the harvest for this season will not yield enough to feed them through winter.

It hasn’t rained in months and most of his crops will die before harvest.  To make it through winter they will need to eat less, and ration their food. They have gone through a similar drought season. He remembered having to decide which part of their daily meals should they skip. His wife, always the wise one,  suggested they can skip breakfast but not supper. It’s hard to sleep on an empty stomach she said.

His thoughts raced thinking of ways to feed his family. He remembers how his two boys used to make fun of each other, teasing

who’s stomach makes the loudest noise before supper.

His eyes welled up with tears at the thought. He bowed his head and prayed. It was a painful desperate cry for help. He thought God, you know I can take this punishment,  but please spare my family. Please lord, don’t make them go hungry. I beg of you, please give us rain, Lord. He sat there quietly for a moment. It must have been longer because he heard his wife call him out to come sit for supper. He didn’t want his family to see his tears. He leaned into the water basin, paused to see his face’s reflection on the water. Imagine the reflection on the water is your face…

Our lives are painted much differently from this man. We are living a much more privileged and comfortable life. Imagine if by a twist of fate you and I traded places with him.

Imagine we were in a geographically disadvantaged part of the world, where the weather fails to nourish and support crops that give us sustenance.

Humans are resilient and will cope to any life situations they are in. We are endowed with the intellect to fight through and have the emotional capacity to cope and be strong.

We are this man.

Imagine and be grateful.