The sacrifice involved in these past two and a half years is hard for us to imagine...they get up at four in the morning to make tortillas to sell, then come to the co-op to work and go home with no money...their families go without...Jamileth's daughter will not celebrate her 15th birthday as is the tradition here, there is no money...a neighbor looks after Natalia's elderly mother so she can work at the co-op...Xiomara's son comes to the co-op after first grade every day because there is no one to look after him at home...Chilo's son comes to work for her on the days she is too sick or at the hospital trying to get the surgery she needs...Pablo comes every day even though his foot is still infected and he is in constant danger of having it amputated...many cannot bring lunch to eat, and those who can share their small lunch so that no one has to work on an empty stomach.
And yet, after all this sacrifice, the payoff is nearly in sight: the floor is going in! The members of Genesis are doing HARD work right now...mixing two batches of concrete in the mixer, filling wheelbarrows with it, carting it across the building, pouring concrete hour after hour, filling in 3 sections of floor each day in time for the two masons they have hired to put the fine coat of cement on the floor before finishing up for the day. They have weeks to go, but the floor is going in...and they continue sacrificing and hanging on to their hopes...si Dios quiere, God willing, as they always say, the members of Genesis will begin production before the year is out. --Becca
