poverty

in travelling throughout costa rica and nicaragua on mission trips for the past 5 years i saw a lot of poverty. each year after coming home to my house with just me in it i looked around at all my stuff and wondered why i had bought some of the things in the first place. each year it was harder and harder to come back to my house. i had too much. i wanted less - things. i wanted something more. i wanted to live there, not just to visit for 2 weeks each year. then God made it happen. i ended up living with a large family in a small village for 15 months last year. i lived in a dump of a house that was literally falling apart (we had a coral snake come through a hole in the floor in the bathroom) but it was filled with laughter and love. here we build bigger, fancier houses and may never run into each other, never talk to each other. before when i had asked why they fasted i was told simply, there is no food. we had potable water in our village although not everyone had water because they couldn't afford to pay for it. one cluster of 7 families had one shower between them. we had electricity, many didn't.

we take so much for granted and never give it another thought. clean, safe drinking water, enough food to eat, shelter from the storms. they have nothing and we have so much yet i wouldn't wish my 'riches' on them. here the more we have the more we want, we are never satisfied with what we have. we seclude ourselves inside from family and friends playing games on the computer. there they spend time with their families and friends. here we rush around greeting someone with hi how are you and never stop to hear the answer. there talking with each other is an important part of every day. we drive our cars to the store 2 blocks away. there people walk miles in the darkness to work 12 to 16 hours in the fields in the blaring sun or heavy rain every day for $1 an hour.

i visited schools and when asked what the greatest need was the principal said food, the children are hungry and there is no food and no money to buy it. i was going to the schools with the ministry of health to promote good nutrition. what an oxymoron. how do you promote good nutrition when there is no food? what do they eat after we've gone. there were teenagers in grades 1 because they had never had the opportunity to go to school before and kids not going to or quitting school because there was no money to pay for it.

one nicaraguan boy in our house had left his family and country at the age of 9 to come to costa rica in search of work in order to eat. he was, miraculously, reunited with his own family last year after a 12 year absence. can you imagine sending your young children to work in the fields in another country because you don't have enough food to feed them. before the sun was up i watched as young children, carrying their machetes, walked to the fields with their parents.

i have encouraged my grandchildren to watch the world vision programs so they can see how fortunate they are to have easy access to food, water, shelter, education, health care, to live in a country without fear of war.

why did i come back? God told me to. would i go back? if He sent me - absolutely - in a heartbeat.

i could say i can't afford to sponsor 3 kids but in all honesty - no i can't - i can't say that. i have so very much. they have so very little. i do not need to have more things. i do not need to change my lampshades because the colour doesn't match the walls or bedding. they need to have the very basics of survival.