Crying for my poverty?

Hi David, your posts bring back memories of my first weeks as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi. Thanks for sharing them.

Have you encountered any blind children or lepers? Those will surely break your heart.

My pull toy circa 1952 was Buzzy Bee. Pulling that thing around gave me the most intense satisfaction. Buzzy had a sweet face that I remember vividly, and I was soon joined by my brother pulling (that darn) xylophone. In those days housing was scarce and we lived in what had been WW2 temporary married NCO quarters, near the U.Va. campus. Our biggest thrill as kids-- when I was 5 or so-- was getting hold of a refrigerator box, all getting inside it, and rolling down this big hill. Ten kids and a big cardboard box: we'd be set for days, rolling down the hill screaming our heads off!

A missionary family came to our Church and showed us a slide show of a little village they live in with the people in India that they serve. There were some nice looking and happy smiling faces in this rather unbelievably cluttered looking village. I couldn't understand all of the trash floating around in the pictures, but the smiling faces had me thinking other thoughts soon.

The happiness on the faces of the missionaries and the kids in the photos were all quite average but none the less a bit moving.

The next set of photos drilled me to the floor along with my tears draining out of my face. I mean my out of my face, my tears were not ordinary.

The entire little village, all the huts, all the play grounds, was built ON A TRASH DUMP.

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I'm going downstairs now to the fireplace room to play my $3000 guitar or any number of other expensive musical instruments I own (after I blow my nose and wipe my face). I'll sing praises to the Lord and pray that he forgives me for living a life devoid of loving and hugging and walking with the people He died for, every moment of every day. And I will thank Him for David and those that do go out into the world.

David and the Apostle James are speaking to me:

"Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (Someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.')

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

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David;

I just wanted to let you know I CAN understand how you're feeling. Experience in the 3rd world can be truly shocking and eye opening - A destruction of innocence. But in so many ways it can make you a better, deeper, richer human being. Never the same, but better.

Be strong. Stay as open as you can. God is opening your eyes for a reason. He is leading you deeper into the Truth of what it is to be his disciple. All the best things in life really ARE free. I'm sure you'll have things to reflect and act upon for years to come.

My journey was to the slums of Haiti. I clearly remember standing in a circle of college students near the worst of slums on Ash Wednesday and singing the song "We are standing on Holy Ground and I know that there are angels gathering round. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in His Presence on Holy Ground."

God be with you and may you have a blessed Lent.
Sheilagh

Thanks again for sharing this insight into a world we all-too-often choose to forget.

Thank you for sharing these parts of your journey with us. It seems to mean so much more coming from your blog, that I frequently visit then even the letters I get from Compassion. It points me to Jesus and I praise God for organizations that do make a difference. It stirs in my heart a desire to do better for His children.

Oh, David, you really got me where I live on this one. Mother Theresa used to speak of the great poverty in America - a poverty of spirit when we have so much stuff. I look at my house - tiny and in disrepair and am amazed at the luxury that surrounds me. I think a photograph of the "toy" should be given to every parent I know. To remind us of the poverty of spirit that exists among us. Perhaps our dreams need to change. Instead of dreaming of the stainless steel kitchen, perhaps dreaming of a village with clean water. One will put me in debt and the other will free me. Instead of dreaming of the travel after retirement, dreaming of the education of a single child. One would produce nothing and the other would change everything.
Yes, my dreams are changing with these images. Thanks David.

I remember coming back from India one time. We had been staying in my grandparent's house, and the house was full of people. Maybe 8-10 people slept there everynight (it was fairly large, by no means poor) and during the day, any number of people would be coming in and out. Some were rich, some were poor, some in-between, but all living in a web of community. Not an 'ideal' community, but definitely community, and the children all played together, whatever their econonmic background was. There was always life, color, love and hugs to be had, opinions offered by everyone on all things, and an utter assumption of the inextricability of the bonds that bind us as humans.

The night I came back, I woke up in the middle of the night alone in my one bedroom city apartment, and I have never felt so isolated in my life. Surrounded by people in an affluent city, in a very protected safe little country, and utterly alone in my home. It was awful.

We do have a poverty of spirit in this country--and not just here but in other 'western' countries. And it's not to diminish the horror of material poverty. In fact, the two may be more linked than we know (our incessant need to consume, achieve, conquer linked to distance from our connection with each other??). But, through posts like yours, I feel very hopeful that we are starting to reclaim the things that matter....maybe grief always has to come first--a recognition of what has been lost--but then we can start to build, and reach out, and re-awaken lost parts of our selves and our lives. God is good. You are in my prayers!

My brother, in his wisdom my creater showed me that wealth would indeed hinder my walk with him and today wealth is not on my mind at all.I am so blessed every moment of my life that I would view true poverty as being without his divine spirit in every moment of my life.I agree that a child should not in anyway have to be hungry or without warmth and love.I will pray for her and the children all over world who suffer and it is a sin agaist God .With all the riches at the worlds disposal no child should live in that sort of poverty.My sincere wish and prayer that man will see the pain of these children and react appropiatly. yur brother in christ

A few months ago a dear friend and I were watching "City of God" it was my first time her 10th or something. Any way we would stop the movie and discuss things, sort out different aspects of it etc.. When we got done though we talked about how living in that sort of situation could/did make you so aware of every possiblity that came along. Since every possibility could mean the difference between living and dying. We also discussed how growing up an American, even though neither of us grew up with a lot, that we shut out all the possibilities that our sent our way. We reasoned that this was because even though we weren't and aren't wealthy that being open to all of the Creator's good also means being open to loss. And we are all fearful of losing what we have. Yet when you have nothing everything is a miracle, you say Yes! to all the opening the Creator sends to you. You live more fully because you live more aware. Since watching that movie, really watching, we have tried to be much more aware of all the possibilites that are presented to us everyday, to live our lives more fully, more aware.

Why can't the rich resources be spreaded amoung the poor. Africa has plenty of resources to go around.

I just wanted to say that I was blessed by this post. A dear friend forwarded it to me, and now, I shall in turn, to do the same for some friends of mine. Thank you for your reflection, and may the Lord bless your time in Uganda.