Last week, I attended one of my first staff meetings. Violeta, the owner of the school, came to the meeting and told us a story about Douglas (a teacher in the school). He is an excellent teacher and employee. And he has been dating a girl for several years. They want to get married...but they can't afford it. Sure, they could go down to the alcaldia and have a judge sign the papers, but Douglas told Violeta that every little girl grows up wanting a real wedding with a white dress, and he doesn't want his girlfriend to get married at the alcaldia because she deserves her dream wedding.
"I think we should give him a surprise wedding. Do you want to help?" she asked.
I glanced around the room, and the response was overwhelming. Everyone was raising their hands.
"We could decorate the courtyard of the school and have it here!"
"My grandmother makes really good food, she can cater it."
"I make really pretty flower arrangements, I can do that!"
"I can play the piano!"
"To pay for the supplies," Violeta explained, "we all need to chip in a little bit of money. How much can you each give?"
Keep in mind that this is a school targeted to lower income families. Most teachers there make the minimum salary of L. 5,500 (about $290/month).
I was expecting everyone to say 50 lempiras, or less. To my surprise, everyone, all 25 of them, started shouting "L. 100! L. 200! No, that's not enough, let's give L. 300 each!"
As soon as the meeting was over, I walked outside to call my husband. I told him the story with tears streaming down my face. "I can't believe we are actually stressed that we can't buy a second car. That we can't buy a house. That we can't travel back and forth to the US whenever we want. And here is this nice couple...They are not asking for a house, or a car, or money. They are asking for a simple wedding. A marriage! And my coworkers are offering up significant portions of their paychecks to throw a wedding for them! We are so blessed, Jose. And we should be more thankful for what we DO have instead of complaining about what we don't. Because we have a good marriage, and we have each other."
English skills and US degree or not...I am getting so much more out of this job than I'm putting in.
Thank you to my new friends for showing me that there are good and decent people in Honduras. :)
7 comments:
How awesome and what true demonstration of loving your fellow man. Please let us know how the surprise unfolds.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh, how exciting! Can't wait to hear all about it!
How wonderful for this couple. What a generous group of people you work for. It sounds more like family.
I've been humbled by the generosity of Hondurans. Many have so little by "our" standards and yet most would literally give the shirt off their back.
Please continue to let us know how the plans proceed and eventually about the wedding. Has the date been set yet?
How wonderful. I often marvel at the simple generosity and faith of "poorer" people.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about this story since you told me a few days ago. It is a beautiful example of generosity. I am certain that this couple will also have gorgeous invitations. I am guessing you'll also end up being their event planner. :-)
I can't wait to hear about your encounters with the children there!
Love you! Mom
Hannah, what a wonderful story. It brought tears to my eyes. It´s a really nice reminder that we should appreciate the nice and simple things we have, and take for granted, even though without them we wouldn´t have the happiness we do have.
*void that last ´have´ it´s redundant!!! lil miss grammar corrector! haha
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