slums

I just came across this website: www.slumdoc.com. It's a Dordt College project. Looks highly interesting. It quotes the United Nations statistic that 1 in 6 of the world's population live in slums. That's a shockingly high number. That's 1 billion. By 2030, it is estimated that that number will be close to 3 billion. The fotos from the homepage all come from Managua, from a day that I spent with the prof leading the documentary project. I took him down to the city dump, near the homes of my two little friends Breyling and Mauro. In fact, one of the photos shows another boy sponsored by the same program that they are. I also just finished a video project for this minitry, called Hand in Hand Ministries. I encourage you to check out the website I mentioned. Read the blog entries. Watch some of the films. Allow God to work in your heart and change the way you look at poverty--if your heart needs to be changed, as mine often does.

The site makes me wonder what I can do, what I should be doing, living so close to poverty. Here in Managua, we're faced with begging every day. Even if we can avoid public transportation and the poorer areas of town, it's not uncommmon to come face to face with adults, children, disabled, mothers who look at us with outstretched hands. Not a half a mile from my house I often see a young boy or an older woman on my way home from work. I've wondered what I can do. Probably not much. I've made a small effort to get to know them. I did learn the boy's name, Jimmy, and whenever I see him, I ask him how things are, how school is doing. But is that really enough? Does he recognize me yet? Where are his parents? Is he begging because his parents haven't given him anything to eat? Have they sent him? How can one respond to such a situation?

Breyling and his sister came within inches of losing their scholarship with Hand in Hand this week. The ministry pays for a large part of the school tuition, but does not pay it all in order to encourage the parents to take ownership of the opportunity. In Breyling's case, his parental figures are very unsupportive. They tell him he is poor and cannot afford to do certain projects rather than come up with ways of doing them that are within their means. This time, his parents did not pay their portion of the tuition on time, so the two were set to be suspended for a day. His grandmother was quite upset threatened that if they were suspended, she'd pull them out of the program. And they would pay if the pair were not suspended. I'm not exactly sure how it worked out, but they are still in the program, thanks to God. Please pray for Breyling's situation. Pray for his mother and grandmother, that they would start taking Breyling and his sister's lives seriously and support them in their education. This is one opportunity they have to break the cycle of poverty in their family. If they lose their scholarship and connection with this ministry, their future is much more uncertain. His behavior at school have also been a growing problem.

So much hurt in the world. So much pain. On a small scale as much as a global scale. Something is not right. Something is terribly wrong. Do you ever get the sense that this is not how things are supposed to be? I do. I hope you do, too. I also hope that you can live with the certainty that things will be better one day, when the Creator reclaims his creation, judging evil and restoring good. That tension is healthy. Live and love, and long deeply for the day of eternity.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Breyling and Mauro from during the time when my parents came for a visit. Breyling is on the left, and Mauro on the right in the first photo.





prayer items:

-Breyling and his family: a change in his the attitude of his parents could change his life incredibly!
-Media studio: pray that the next couple of weeks and months we will be able to make some solid plans for the future of the media studio.
-Rain: the rains have begun again, and everything is turning green again! Praise the Lord for his faithfulness.