This is How We Rake

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing hard work pay off. We have been doing a lot of hay raking this week in two different villages. At first you look at the field and are a little overwhelmed at the size of it and the depth of the actual hay, but then you start your work and slowly but surely the land becomes cleaner, the hay less deep than before, and you see your work as an accomplishment.

Not only are you satisfied at the result of your own work but also knowing that this was a team effort and the team played well. Because the job doesn't end with raking....oh no; you rake, and rake, and then someone with a fork comes and lifts (or pushes) the bundle that has been gathered to a bigger pile surrounding a pole sticking up from the ground. When the field has been raked clean then someone starts gathering the hay around the pole and then when it gets a little heigth on it then someone more skilled than I gets on top of the stack stomping it down with every throw of hay the person from the ground gives them.

Then rakers come in and shave the loose hay off the sides so rain will just drip off of the stack, and then they rake what is on the ground into little piles to be added to the top of the huge mountain of hay. Some precautions are made so that the hay doesn't combust on a hot, dry day sticking branches on the bottom of the big stack assuring some breathing room inside of it.

There have been many hands that have gone into raking these fields of cut, dry hay; if one slacks then the work goes slower and the heat of the day wears more on those laboring. However, many times these fields are left to the family that owns them. We have been seven (sometimes 8 or 9) extra bodies to help those we know rake their fields or a family member's field. I could make a sweet biblical reference and say how raking hay is kind of like the body of Christ in motion with each part doing it's job but I think that sentence really just gave you the gist of that allusion.

The raking hay itself is not the joyous part for me, it's the time we spend with the people before and afterward. When we go to help many people will fix lunch, or a meal for us after we are done. Though the meals are delicious, I try to focus on the words being spat out in Bosnian trying to weave through the different accents used in different villages and hanging onto the words I recognize to even latch onto the context of the conversation. I love the jokes, the quick-wit that is sometimes the Bosnian way, I love to hear about their concerns and questions they have for us.

I love this place..did you know that?

All to God