Posted by Meg on: 03.28.2007 /
She was seven – about the age of my daughter Eowyn. Her brown eyes were gentle and shy. Her bare feet crushed dry earth and rotting banana leaves as she led us along a little path to two mounds. “Daddy,” she said, pointing at the first, “Mummy,” indicating the second.
She looked down, ashamed, as she showed us her wet, raggedy bedding inside the mud hut.
“Why don’t you put it out to dry in the sun now it’s stopped raining?”
“The other children would laugh at me…”
Reports about Africa’s HIV-AIDS crisis and ‘child-led households’ can be abstract and removed. Visiting Uganda left indelible sadness in my heart. Returning to the West brings with it an ongoing tension between slipping back into the guilt of a comparatively luxurious lifestyle, and being painfully, helplessly aware of the injustice.
What struggles do you have regarding your lifestyle and the injustice many in our world experience? What creates despair for you? Hope?
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Comment by: Jamie
1 03/28/07 5:13 AM | Comment Link |Oh boy….that’s a loaded question for me. I struggle daily with “how much is too much”. We do not have a lot of money, by middle class standards. We currently do not have insurance. Our cars are over 10 years old. We’re not rolling in it….
With that said, I still wonder, at what point are we blinded to how much we have by living in the US? My children are fed, clothed and have stuff. My husband left a staff position at a church almost 2 years ago. We have struggled financially since then, but we’ve made it. “God has provided”. I struggle with even saying that, though. Why has “God provided” enough so that we haven’t lost our house, while little children starve to death every day.
How much stuff is too much stuff? With all of the poverty and injustice in the world…
These are the struggles I have. My hope comes in that I know God’s plan is to redeem and renew. His ultimate plan will wipe out injustice and poverty.
Comment by: Rachel
2 03/28/07 9:05 AM | Comment Link |Welcome, Jamie! I’m so sorry to hear that your family is without insurance (I’m assuming you mean medical). With your daughter’s health needs, that must be very difficult. We MUST do something about the tragic state of health care in this country. But that is a subject for another post…
Comment by: Jamie
3 03/28/07 8:30 PM | Comment Link |Rachel,
Thanks! You are right, we have to something about the state of health care in this country.
I’m enjoying the blog!
Jamie
Comment by: Staci
4 03/29/07 11:49 AM | Comment Link |Thanks for writing about this, Meg. I think most of have these thoughts just about every day. If I’m aware of all the problems, what should I/can I do about them? If I can’t think of anything useful, should I go back into ignorance?
To fight the despair, I sometimes think of Mother Teresa’s frequent admonitions that it is our motives that count more than the size or results of the actions. That doing something we think is small out of love for another does more than a large act without love. I know some of her words have become almost cliché in recent years, but I still think she must have been on to something. And I’m glad, because I have a lot more power over my motives than my capacity.
Ok, I can’t fight the urge to include a quote:
“There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone’s house. That says enough. “
Comment by: Rachel
5 03/29/07 5:33 PM | Comment Link |That was beautifully written, Meg.
It seems that for each terrible situation that could bring me to despair, there are amazing people doing things that bring hope. I’m just finishing up David Batstone’s new book “Not for Sale” about the global slave trade. In each chapter, he talks about a different form of slavery - sex trafficking and forced prostitution, bonded labor, child soldiers. He gives statistical information, talks about the social and political issues involved and tells the deeply personal and heart-wrenching stories of slavery victims.
But he also tells about wonderful individuals and organizations who are rescuing people from slavery, prosecuting the perpetrators, helping freed slaves find healing and hope and empowering those at risk of being victimized. He tells about groups like International Justice Mission, World Vision and Hagar International. He also tells about courageous ordinary individuals who chose to get involved and become part of the modern day abolition movement. And he tells the stories of former slaves who have been liberated from bondage and who now live in dignity and freedom.