Another Nicaragua Story
On our first day in Bluefields, we visited the rock quarry. We drove the truck further into the quarry and by the time we reached our destination there were lots of kids chasing after us. As soon as I got out of the vehicle this one little girl came up to me and held onto my hand. We crossed a fence and walked towards the large hole in the ground. I looked down to see where I was putting my feet and I noticed that the little girl beside me didn’t have any shoes on. She was walking around, over these big piles of stones, in her barefeet. She didn’t even notice the sharp rocks. The soles of her feet were so worn in that she didn’t even notice the discomfort. This really hit me hard. She had to have been under 7 years old, yet the world had already worn her in. She was used to the pain.
As we came to the edge of the quarry we looked down into the pit. On the other side, there were two little girls, completely covered in gray dust, using a chisel to break apart the rocks. They glanced up once to see what was going on, but then continued with their work. They didn’t even stop their work when we brought out the helicopter toys. My dad took some toys down to them and they tried to get it to work a couple of times. Then the older girl took the toy and laid it aside and went back to her work.
The rock quarry, however, is not as depressing as it may seem. Although the kids have to work instead of go to school in the afternoon, they are working with their family. We had to look for the good things when we visited places like the quarry and the dump, or else the sadness of it all would overwhelm us.
As we drove away from the quarry, the little girl who had held my hand, chased the truck. She stood up on a mound of dirt and waved goodbye. I hope to never forget that sight.
