Our neighbor's

Many of you have commented on the little boy playing in the sand so I thought I would show you his house. It really isn't much, a hut with a dirt floor, no running water and no electricity. The family consists of a mother, grandfather, 2 boys and lots of goats and chickens. It really is rather surreal when you look to the north to see their home and then to the south to see our home. The elderly man takes his goats out everyday to let them graze up and down the street. The lady wheels her cart to the end of our road and sells a homemade all day long. The children to attend school, but when home they are busy riding bikes, with old tires, or helping with the goats.



I had actually written this post several weeks ago as I was waiting to get a better photo of the grandfather. Today I sadly learned that he passed away around 4 pm. I would see him take his goats up and down the road every day and I would always smile brightly at him. He would put his hands together in front of his face and look bow his head slightly. Sometimes at night we would see him curled up with a blanket in front of our house on the paving stones. I haven't seen him the past several days but I figured that he had went to a village to visit but unfortunately he had fell while out with his herd and never recovered. The picture below is of this man, age 63. I asked Bhaskar what we could do for this family and he suggested money. I walked over and gave his daughter some money and embraced her. We both had tears. I am sure she was shocked to have me embrace her and also shed tears for a man a didn't know. It is just the reality of life and death. Tonight I walked outside and saw that they have a large fire burning in front of the house and the man is adorned with flowers and laid out on a raised bed of palm leaves and has a beautiful canopy over him. This shepherd, age 63, now has two men sitting outside keeping watch over him tonight.