It’s 5:00 a.m. and raining. The pitter-patter of the steady rain on our roof is hypnotizing. My thoughts turn to, “What did we leave outside?” I run through a mental checklist … kids’ bikes? Inside. Car windows? Closed. Laundry? A pair of jeans and a couple pairs of shorts are still on the line getting drenched. Oh well, I can run them through the washer again. All is well.

Then I think of some of the homes I have visited. One in particular stands out in my mind. We went one day to install a stove for a family. They had worked 10 hours to earn a highly efficient wood-burning stove that would ventilate out of the house properly, a significant improvement to their previous cooking space--an open fire precariously perched atop a crooked pile of cinder blocks. It just so happened that the day we went to install the stove was a day after a rain. It was apparent from the drip marks in the dirt floor that the corrugated tin roof they pieced together had leaked. As I think of that family, I wonder: what is on her mental checklist? Kids’ bikes? Not likely. Car windows? Doubtful. Laundry? The clothes she painstakingly hand-washed are hopefully inside, but under a leaky roof?

The Turnquist Family

My thoughts and prayers are interrupted by Robbie who comes into our room saying that his bed is wet. Upon inspection, I learned that we, too, have a leaky roof. We aren’t all that different from the family with the new stove and dirt floor after all. However, I have the good fortune ofhaving a landlady to call who will supposedly send someone to fix the roof. The affiliated family isn’t so fortunate. I wonder if they have had the time or resources to repair the roof before the rainy season.

While this family’s situation seems grim, I remember there is hope. They have opportunities (through Common Hope) to work sweat equity hours to earn things that will help improve their standard of living – like their stove or materials for a new roof. They have been affiliated for a year and a half and already they have worked 300 hours to earn cinder blocks to build new walls for their home, 10 hours for the stove and another 5 hours or so to earn an oil drum in which they can store water. In addition, they have taken garden classes to learn to raise and prepare more nutritious food for the family on their new stove. They may not have a landlady to call to fix the roof but, thankfully, they do have Common Hope.

Tim and Leanne are from Minnetonka, MN. They first heard about Common Hope five years ago when they had an opportunity to visit our Antigua site for a day. Upon returning home, Leanne started doing volunteer work in the St. Paul office and about a year later, Tim started working full time in the St. Paul office as Manager of Information Technology.

In October of 2004, Tim and Leanne made the decision to move their family (they have two young children-Robbie and Lilly) to Guatemala and work for Common Hope as long term volunteers. Tim is working on a computer program called “Cosas” – an inventory control system to help us track supplies. Leanne is working in Hospitality during the mornings while the kids are in school and spending afternoons being wowed by the amounts of Spanish the kids are picking up! They will return to MN in June 2006.

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