of cardboard. How I hoped I could help at least one person while I was here. Julia and David had taken on an enormous task, but I didn’t doubt they were up to the job. I just hoped I was. Our first day had filled me with enthusiasm for the project, but also communicated to me the seriousness of what we were doing here and how important this work was. It was humbling, to say the least.
Hayden turned out the lamp, slid into bed next to me, and cuddled me with an arm around my shoulders. His breath was warm on the back of my neck and I relaxed into the safety and familiarity of his body.
“I’m so glad we’re here together,” I whispered into the night.
“Mmmm,” he mumbled into my shoulder, already drifting off into sleep.
Laying in the dark, I waited for sleep to overtake me, too, but as I drifted off, I thought back to Hayden’s comment about David and Julia’s talk about calling, and again felt that stab of anxiety even amidst my happiness.
Her words came back to me as I succumbed to sleep...none of you will leave here unchanged.
Once again, I wondered what those changes would mean for us.
Hayden
The next morning, following a light breakfast and group prayer time, Penny and I parted ways for the day. She went with David to learn about the legal situation while I was to work with the other volunteer builders. The man in charge of the construction team was a large Brazilian called Eduardo, whose enthusiasm for the project was infectious.
We followed him into one of the small classrooms and sat behind old wooden desks while he gave an introductory talk about the building project and why it was so badly needed. As he spoke about the favelas, I leaned forward and listened intently.
“The favelas are illegal settlements, but they’re too big for the police to dismantle, and largely, they don’t want to. The favelas are communities constructed by the poor who can’t afford to pay rent, so as far as the authorities are concerned, it keeps them off the streets and out of the main city.”
Although anger welled within me over the failure of the government to provide adequate housing for these people, I also admired the resilience of those who lived in the favelas, constructing homes and a community for themselves out of next to nothing—salvaged cinder blocks, bricks, sheet metal and scraps of wood. Waste disposal was poor in the favelas, and clean water was brought in from the city. Unsurprisingly, disease was rampant and the infant mortality rate was high. I shook my head. Penny and I were so privileged.
“It’s important to remember,” Eduardo continued, “that while the favelas are characterised by intense poverty and squalor due to the lack of sanitation, the inhabitants don’t want pity. They’re a proud community, and they largely stick together to share what small resources they have. Our aim is to work with them in whatever way they find the most useful, not simply to offer handouts and platitudes.”
He could have been speaking directly to me. This was my kind of project.
“How do they get any resources? Do any of them work?” one of the other volunteers asked.
“Many work in the city, but they’re often paid a pittance, which is why they’d be homeless without the favelas. Most of the residents aren’t poor because they can’t get work. They work all the hours God sends them, but they barely earn enough to survive. Some turn to crime out of desperation, and then the gangs get involved. The system is heavily weighted against them. Our objective is to provide houses for those whose homes are the most derelict, and education, training, and where we can, employment with a living wage. Felipe, who you’ll meet today, is being trained in construction so that we can employ him as a project worker when he has sufficient skills.”
Eduardo took a slow breath as he smiled at each of the volunteers gathered in the room. “This is why you are so important. By volunteering your time, you allow us to have the funds to do all of this and to pay that living wage. This entire project couldn’t keep going without you.”
As he led us out of the room and we headed towards the construction site, Eduardo walked beside me. “Hayden, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I replied tentatively.
“We were thinking that perhaps you’d like to help train Felipe. I can then work with the other volunteers