I know I JUST blogged, but today was too much. Gotta get it somewhere besides my head. So here it is.
This morning we got up, normal breakfast, and set off. Our first stop was to deliver brand new wheelchairs to Juan and Manuel, the guys who come to the Taulabe Esso gas station and sit there all day, waiting for money. Both have pretty severe lower-limb deformities, and one of the guys with us wanted to get them new wheelchairs, so we got the money together and did it. You should have seen the huge smiles on their faces. It made me wish that every day could be new wheelchair day for them.
Immediately after that, we went up to a village I had never been to before to do the drama and Christmas boxes. In that village was a girl who had cerebral palsy I think, who didn't have a wheelchair. Her mom had to carry her out to the soccer field where we were, along with her plastic chair that she sat in. There was another girl who had a crutch and a stick to get around. And there was another girl there who couldn't walk either. Her mom carried her, and Pat and I carried the mom's box back to their house while the mom carried her. Along the way and once we got there we talked with them. She could read and write, and had gone to kindergarten, but is eight and can't go to school now because it is too much for her mom to carry her around. She has no mobility except for what others can give her. We opened her box with her and played with her for awhile, and then walked back up the hill to where the group was, a bit breathless from the walk, without even carrying her. The road was muddy and had lots of ditches. Even if today had been new wheelchair day for those three girls in that village, how would they get around the dirt hill paths? I wish today could have been new wheelchair day for them, but they did get a box.
After that, we went to Sabanas to see the stove project again, and greeted the kids there. The stove project is pretty cool, I'll write about it more in a later post. perhaps. It was "new wheelchair day" in a figurative sense for that village several years ago, and now they show it to every group that comes through to see what our power can do when we are generous.
Then we had a quick lunch, and went to do the boxes in Buenos Aires.
The problem with Buenos Aires is it is a small community, but is very near Jardines. We don't do boxes in Jardines because there are over a thousand children there, we just can't logistically do it right now. But Jardines is right next to Buenos Aires, and some of the kids came over begging for boxes. We had given out tickets to the Buenos Aires kids, and so being bilingual today part of my job involved telling kids we couldn't give them a box. We did this yesterday as well, but today was worse. Kids were crying, kids were bringing me tickets that had someone else's name written on the back, it was a struggle. Oh, and there was the guy who may or may not be demon possessed in the background. And Israel, the leader of everything, has severe strep throat and can't speak without pain, but had to tell more people no than I did.
The worst part of the boxes is the aftermath. People keep coming up, asking, can I have a box for my son who lives (insert name of a place where we're not), give me a blanket, I didn't get a bag of rice, etc. I have to say no, or send them to Israel if the case is questionable. Yesterday I reached my breaking point, and didn't want to say no one more time.
After we left, we had dinner, I translated for an hour and a half Bible study, and we finally got home.
I'm wondering how we can truly fulfil Jesus' calling to act justly AND love mercy all at the same time. So often while doing this relief/distribution work I feel I must do one or the other. Is it a balance? Or is it both all the time? How do we imperfect humans do this?
I do know that a DAY is coming, even better than new wheelchair day. No more need for wheelchairs. No more crying kids because they didn't get a box. No more hunger, aleviated for a day by a bag of rice. Every day will be BETTER than new-wheelchair day.
