A stove for Jolnachoj

Completely covered in dust and mud I´m writing this little piece. To tell you about the Lorena oven/stove (an stove that saves up to half the amount of wood normally used for cooking and with a chimney assures a healthier, less smokey kitchen for the women) we build with Don Sebastian, Don Manuel, Don Agustin in Jolnacho, a community of Los Altos.
Where the women wear yet another beautiful costum, where the first strawberries could be harvested. Where the children just came home from school, running enthusiastically, taking care of the little chicks and the sheep, seemingly unconcious of the beautiful landscape around them.
How heavy work it is to mix the dung, earth, ash, chalk, water to make the ´concrete´ and how many hands make the work lighter...
How black the walls and roof of the kitchen are, which makes you wonder about the colour of the women´s lungs... I start to cough after five minutes in their smokey kitchens, they spend most of their day there. How happy my lungs become just of thinking of the new stove...
How satisfied you feel after having constructed something with your own hands, something concrete. It reminds me of Richard who wrote me: ´After a day of thinking simply in nails and screws, tatada the chicken run was ready. Today was not invane. Today we really existed, here is the evidence.¨
How working together is a way to get to know each other. Sometimes in silence, sometimes joking, smiling, talking even though sometimes limited to the few words in tsotsil we know. Then eating together, tired but satisfied. Lucky me that soup was served as I cannot eat pozol (maiz drink) nor frijoles (black beans) now with my colitis. Talking about the things of every day life, about the sun, the rain, the children that went to school, the crops being grown.
(the pictures will follow)

These are the things that make me happy. So much better than staying in bed with diarrea and constantly being just ´about´ to vomit with every food you see.
So much better also than feeling love sick, with mourning, longing, jealousy or envy in my heart.
Like Stella once explained to me: you know that after the hills follow valleys again, but instead of fearing what is coming you will learn to enjoy the hill!
I am enjoying the hill.

Now I have to hurry up, since I won tickets to see the Mariachis tonight. Besides I have to prepare and eat all the food that is on the diet Isaid (the other volunteer who studied Nutrition) made for me to cure the colitis (opgezette darmen) and maybe even gain some weight...
Hope you are all doing well. Thanks so much for all your love in the hills and valleys.

photos: 1 Mixing the ´concrete´
2 Isaid, Juanita and Don Marcelino with the nearly finished base of the stove.