When I was 17 my parents allowed me to go on a missions trip to Honduras. It rocked my world. Upon our arrival at the tiny airport, there were about a dozen or so small kids with different ailments begging for money. Some had a missing arm or leg, some had an eye patch or were limping with a cane. Some were leaning against the airport wall for support. But they all were begging for money (not food) and we were all surprised and saddened when we asked why? Why were all these kids crippled? The response we got made me sick and broke my heart. Our team leader said that their parents "disable" them to make them "more efficient" beggars because who are "you" more likely to give money to? Somebody who is perfectly healthy or somebody with a deformity? The movie Slum Dog Millionaire is playing in my mind even as I write this.
Fast forward ten plus years and my experience of living in America and all of those Dateline or other news stories of beggars on the street who scam the American public with their sad tale and sign of "Homeless, please help" and all the while driving a Beamer and living in a 2 story house. That experience has shaded all of our minds and hearts to some degree. We all are a bit skeptical as we reach into our pockets. God forbid they scam us.
Fast forward another however long to South Africa and what do I see? I see hundreds of children and dozens of adults lining the streets - brazen when they ask for food to eat. Food usually, not money. Some ask for money - but mostly it is because they are hungry. How can I tell? Because I can see their ribs and their cheeks and their coloring is "off". I see little kids pushed into the road when we drive by because the older ones are in the bushes or hiding somewhere to take the food or money from the smaller when we drive off. I see the desperation and no way out. I see sometimes worry and shame. I also see a world of children that know nothing else...but how to stay alive.
Daniel and I almost never handout money. We just don't do it. We feel that we give to the programs that feed kids here and also have some sort of accountability. But we are also open to pay attention to the heart of God when He speaks and leads us to give. We have given money but mostly we give food. We sometimes carry fruit in our car (or bread or whatever) and pass it out when people approach our car. What we have noticed is that the kids almost always devour it as soon as it passes through the window. They don't even find a place to sit before it touches their lips. They are that hungry.
The other day I was at the grocery store and a kid was outside asking for food and I bought him a meal and a big fat candy bar. When I went back to give it to him, he wasn't where I saw him first - he was way down the wall..."exhausted" was what I thought when I saw him. He looked sleepy and sad. I gave him his meal and raised my hand as to touch his face in sort of an "I love you and I hope you are safe tonight" gesture. He flinched though...making me think he had been hit in the past. I just prayed and loved him anyways (from a distance).
I don't know a whole lot of anything, but I do know that we are all called to love and give and honor and serve those around us and I hope that one day soon there won't be a need to.
Today I am praying for the healing and health of South Africa and her precious children that have been left to fend for themselves.
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