Some say, “There’s so much poverty
Out there, I don’t have a lot to give.”
I say, “You don’t have to have a lot to give
Every little gift goes a long way for someone
Who has nothing coming their way.”

Based on last week’s article, someone asked, “How can you read so much meaning into a simple video?” The question makes sense if you have never been there. My friends and I walked and worked among impoverished families and children like these. We visited with clothing, school materials, household items, tons of chocolates and whatever we could lay our hands on. We cannot claim to have lived the stories of these children, but we spent time in their destitution, walked their indigent reality with them, and shared in their contagious joy. We tried to help but nothing we would do could wipe away the strangulating poverty that held these families. Not that it is impossible to do. It will definitely take more than the few of us could contribute. Still we saw our visits and gifts make a difference. We didn’t give them a joy they had not: we only added to the wild and irrepressible happiness they already had.

I recall one Easter, we were sharing a number of items like mothers and baby items, and lots of Easter eggs. We approached a little girl, about 4, offered her chocolates and she won’t have it. She didn’t know what it was! I took out one, bit into it and handed it to her. She watched me enjoying that heavenly taste, took the half I extended to her and put it in her mouth. Next, she stretched out both hands. For the rest of our visit in the neighborhood that day, this little one followed us everywhere we went, wanting more chocolates.

I rarely talked about these trips we made back and forth to these impoverished communities. I did not post photos because we did not want publicity: we went because we needed a break from our busy and hectic city life. We gave in the name of God and for love’s sake. Looking back now, I remember how every visit and every gift left me with a mixture of gratitude to have been able to add joy to their lives and this feeling of hopeless inability to change their desperate conditions.

Reminded by that video as I look back today, I want to do what I have never done these years: to openly thank the vessels God used to support and go with me to those poor places, to touch the few lives we could, for God, for good. To William and Lane Coe, Augustus and Audrey Yepiz, Patti and John Greene, JoAnn and Gordon Kornfeld, and Michael Anthony Newton my Prof: thank you for trusting me with your gifts, for giving to an eternal cause, for providing boats and logistics for the trips, for taking the risk and going in there with me, and for the so much fun we had while touching those children, their families and communities. Heaven holds our rewards.
(To be continued August 21, 2020)

Glory!