Destitute

Today was a tough day.  We know of the poverty that exists here and we are very aware of it, but when you spend time with a family who is living it, you can't help but be affected by it.  The last group, which I happened to be in, went on our final home visit today.  I use the word "home" very loosely.  What is called a home hear, is homeless in the states.  The family we visited were a mom and a dad and a 5 year old boy named David.  They lived, right off the main road, up on a hill, that you had to climb up to get to.  Their home was an open shack with a corrugated roof, and another tiny building less than 100 square feet where the parents and child slept.  Their "kitchen" was outside, and consisted of a fire pit type thing and a couple of pots.  They had no water, and no electricty, and if they wanted water, they had to walk down to the gas station or down to the dirty creek.  We spent a lot of talking to them about their situation and learned that they had been evicted from their last home and were living on the streets for a bit.  The pastor of the church met the father this way as he was wandering the streets.  A neighbor had seen what had happened to them and realized that their situation was dire.  He had a tiny piece of land that he allowed them to use and supplied them with some scrap material to build a shelter.  He then provided them with the paper work for the land so they did not get evicted again.  Their is hope, even in this situation, there is hope.  Someone took the time to care.  That makes all the difference.  I gave the little boy one of my prayer bracelets we had been given at our church a while back so he would be able to renember Jesus.  It said, when in doubt, prayer.  He was thrilled to have it.  We told him what it said.

We left the site and headed back, while shedding a few tears.  These are tough situations to see and it is truly heartbreaking.  We did learn that later that day they had visited the church, which was exciting to hear, as they do live within about a 7 minute walk to the church.

Please pray for this family and the many, many more that are in the same situations.

Blessings

Shelley

Food we took to the family 

With the family 

Kitchen

David by the bathroom

Davids room