Wants vs. Needs

Hey! So yesterday we did another housebuild for a mother and her son. This day was similar to the previous as we moved buckets of cement down a human chain... boy was it tirind. My arms, shoulders, back, and wrists all hurt!!! The fun part about yesterday was making cement. When we think of cement, we picture a truck coming in, dumping it, end of story. Well that's not so much the case down here in the DR. Cement means mixing dirt, gravel, water, and a lot of shoveling around... it was tiring but interesting to use different resources to get the same work done!

Debriefing last night was really fun and different. We discussed the differences between our wants and our needs. To start things off we were asked what our three basic needs were... We decided to cheat a little and group shelter, food and water into one leaving emotional support (love, respect) and health . We decided that our basic wants were any materialistic items, education (knowledge), peace of mind and to be wanted! It was difficult to differentiate between our wants and our needs coming from a society that has so much to offer. However, when we look at the dominicans or the haitians that we work alongside of, their is no question. They know what they need to survive and they use it wisely, their wants don't come very often and are considered gifts or even miracles.

Later on in the debriefing we had a list of items and had to check off the boxes that applied to us. Some included having an allowance/regular income, finishing highschool, or taking a hot shower on a regular basis. We compared our answers with those who live in one of the poorest villages: Auga Negra, meaning black water where we are currently doing a housebuild. We, as a team checked off 17 our of 18 boxes where those in Agua Negra had maybe one or two of them. It just goes to show how much we take for granted and all that we are able to accomplish because of where we were born.

The last part of the debriefing was based on one question: beyond any material or luxury lifestyle opportunity that we may have, what is the most valuable thing we have that we need to stratigically evaluate and spend wisely? The answer to this question is time. We then answered a series of questions based on the amount of time we spend fulfilling our own wants and needs and those of others. We decided that we spend little time fulfilling our needs compared to our wants. However this is very dependent on the individual. For example, a mother will spend plenty of time fulfilling the needs of their children rather than their wants. Many of us need to prioritize our needs rather than our wants and realize that we don't need 15 pairs of shoes and we don't need to get our nails done on a daily basis. Although we have the luxury to do so, it doesn't mean we should take it for granted and abuse the privilege.

So in conclusion, I ask you to take time to think about your three biggest needs versus your wants and consider how much effort you put into the two separate categories. I also ask you to consider the word "time" and the value that comes with it. Our leader, Bill, one of the most inspirational men I know told us to read a poem based on time known as "the dash". It's called this because it talks about the dash between the year you were born until the year you die and the dash represents all that you do in between and that is what really counts. So i ask you to reflect on your wants, needs, and time that you get to share with those you love in a safe country with plenty of resources available

Love & Miss you
Bianca

Just google "the dash poem" and click on the second link :)