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In 2012, while in Uganda, I wrote a poem to help me reflect on what I was learning. This year, in 2014, I wrote another one, called "Sweat", on how much I dislike sweating, and what I learned from sweating a lot in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. You can read my trip summary here, and see a lot of pictures here.
Sweat
I sweated on the dirt roads in Leogane And in the classrooms in Anonsiyasyon When we taught restavec children under hot metal roofs The smell of their bodies served as proof That they were older than the usual elementary school kids But had hopes and dreams that far outdid Any shame or fear that their late age Might make them look foolish at that stage Though my forehead dripped salt into my eyes Haitian teachers had to disguise The exhaustion that chikungunya brings To teach smiling children who make your heart sing
I sweated while walking down farming tracks Where cows and goats left nice, warm packs Of fertilizer gift wrapped to make us wait Good things can come from even our waste Why then do I not like to see Evidence of my own humanity My sweat, my smell, or my teammates pee When we conserve toilet water, it stares back at me Sweat wouldn't be so bad If I could accomplish more than I had A few latrines are nice to see But compared to U.S. farm subsidies How much more work needs to be done? If I sweat I feel like I should be doing a ton Changing the world for every drop of sweat A reward for my armpits getting wet
Even the Son of God was thirsty when He waited by a well for a Samaritan He was sweaty for the sun was high He probably smelled the way I always try Not to - so soaked in chemicals am I In sanitized illusions do I attempt to hide But Jesus shows me who I was meant to be God's true and devoted humanity He struggled one lonely night in Gethsemane Drenched in sweat among the olive trees He wrestled against the corruption within Smelling of God's love against our sin Through his sweaty death and resurrection Jesus led God's insurrection Rebelling against all the ways we hide our sweat And the ways we need to be changed yet Now every drop of sweat that falls Can find new meaning in Jesus' call To love each precious person no matter where We must sweat to show the love of God there Trudging slowly on days hot or wet Enduring mosquito bites as I sweat Without much thanks and without much pay Without much relief even in the shade Have I walked with him to the costly point Where the dust from the road and my sweat anoint? This earthy baptism through the Spirit's love Becomes God's refining fire from above God designed us to sweat, but not to sin Yet working hard in the body can reflect the struggle within For we sweat out sin - that thing so odd And drink in the love of a sweating God (translated into Spanish with Google Translate, with some changes I could discern with my limited Spanish) Sudo
El sudor no sería tan malo Si pudiera lograr más de lo que tenía Unos letrinas son agradables de ver Pero en comparación con los subsidios agrícolas de los Estados Unidos ¡Cuánto más el trabajo que hay que hacer? Si sudo me siento como que debería estar haciendo un montón Cambiando el mundo por cada gota de sudor Una recompensa por mis axilas mojarse |
June
30
On this island I sweat the most
My skin gets sticky while I eat my breakfast toast
The tropical sun and the humid air
Make me wish for fans everywhere
With sweat, fruit and flowers bloom
On this beautiful island where people make such room
For us as guests in the heat of the day
Where using stoves almost makes me faint away
Is sweat a sign of weakness? Or of love?
That things pass through me from below and above
I depend on water's cleansing flow
To purify and heal me as I grow