“Something on the Road cut me to the soul. Your pain has changed me, your dream inspires.” -Sara Groves
I know Sara Groves wrote this song about Africa, and while its so true about Africa, something cut me to the soul here in Brasil yesterday.
I was just outside the favela (slum) near here, as we were talking with one of the boys from church and his family who lives in the favela. The favela is kind of up the hill a bit from the rest of the predominately lower-class neighborhood that occupies the rest of the hill. The difference between the favela and the rest of the lower-class housing is that the favela is made up of shacks more, kind of built all on top of one another. And the people who live in the favela have not much in the way of possessions and don’t always have food to eat and often don’t have jobs.
Just below the favela is a big dumpster which I assume is used by the people who live in the favela.
There was a man who was picking things out of the dumpster. This was not dumpster-diving in the US, this was a guy who was picking out things from the trash of the poorest people in this town.
I watched him closely, I think he was picking out things to sell. 3 2-liter plastic soda bottles. A large plastic bag. A naked Barbie doll, an old stuffed animal, and an old cloth doll. A 3-ring binder of papers. And he was gone.
No matter how poor people are in one place, there are always people who are poorer. One lady who lives in the favela came by yesterday for help- she has no job and can’t really hold one because she has alot of kids at home. She was out of food and had no blanket and her kids don’t have much clothes. The need was presented to the church here, and one of the ladies, who herself just lost her job and apartment, offered the blanket off her bed for this other family, and also offered to buy some food for the family.
There is always someone needier than those you think are the poorest people around.
I’m amazed at people’s generosity even when it seems they have nothing to give, they give it all. The widow’s mite, I remember, was worth more than the riches of kings given up. What little can I give up today? What can I give out of my nothingness to these people who are so desperately poor?
There are needs so great here, it is overwhelming when we think of them. But God gives us the ability to give even when we have nothing. We give to those who have less than us, no matter how poor we may be in the world’s eyes.
