Impressions of a Day in the Ghetto

My iPad never changed the time, so I find myself with an extra hour this morning! I thought I may as well put it to good use and share a little of our experience so far in Costa Rica. Yesterday I, along with two of my daughters, my sister-in-law, and my niece, spent much of the day in the ghetto. We were delivering grocery bags of food and hygiene supplies to people who literally had none. We also painted a house that wasn’t officially in the ghetto, but was certainly not an American house. I thought I’d just give a few impressions of our day–

Frail grandma and eight grandchildren. In a teeny tiny space. With a tree in the middle.

Water was running everywhere. Was it sewage? No one seemed to know. Dogs and their poop were everywhere. People of all sizes and shapes were everywhere.

Too big shoes for little feet.

A widow with tears in her eyes as we prayed for her.

Much prayer for family members who were “enfermo” (sick). Dysentery, cancer, heart disease are all a concern here.

Tin, cardboard, and wood all put together haphazardly to create “home”.

A tiny boy left home alone while his mother went to find enough money to feed he and his three brothers for the day.

Hilly, muddy, rocky walkways with 5 gallon buckets hooked together to create a drainage pipe when needed at some places.

Faces. So many faces. Some with smiles. Some with sadness. And some shadowed with worry.

Rusted refrigerators and stoves made out of bricks and oven racks.

A humble little home beautifully decorated for Christmas already.

Sad, miserable lives but happy, thankful people.

Faith in the midst of the ghetto. Faith in spite of —or maybe because of— the circumstances.

Always a very emotionally draining experience.

Thanks so much for your prayers. We have been challenged in many ways to step outside of our comfort zone. We expect that to be part of our week. Please continue to pray for us.

p.s. The photo above is our view from where we are staying. I made the mistake of not taking any pictures with my iPhone yesterday and cannot upload my camera’s SD card. But isn’t our view lovely?