This is Manuel's house...a handicapped man in Beira who begs for a living. Notice the blocks that he used to stuff the hole in his house with. Termites ate the wood that weakened the walls and caused it to collapse. Read about Manuel in my story below.
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Between the houses and some low spots is a lot of trash. It is used for sidewalks because when the rains come it is impossible to walk - the water becomes too deep and the mud too thick. This is life in the slums.
Because this fight exemplifies and glorifies God. It is exactly what He did for us and so much more. In all our egotism, it is easy to forget our own desperate condition. The next time you choose a friend, seek out someone who cannot benefit you; a friendship that will cost you. Someone who stands a chance of surviving because you laid aside your earthly investments in the hope of an eternal one. It’s just not all about us.
And when you think of it...pray for Manuel, Lourenco, Antonio, Fatima, and others we have started in a business. May God help them to succeed!
These precious little girls live in the slum. I spent some time singing with them. We sang "God is So Good" in Portuguese and then I taught them our version in English. When I left, I could hear them singing away in their new language. It would be a joy to be able to go there every week and teach them about Jesus.
For I have no one
like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own,
not the things which are of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2: 20-21
We chose our friends.
We are careful in our selection. Usually
it’s those who can benefit us in some way: either by how they make us feel, or
how they treat us, or if our association with them will grow us, or make us
richer in some way. But it is….all about
us. How many of us choose a friend
purposely so we can benefit them, make them feel better, grow them, or make
them richer in some way?
If we see someone who obviously has issues, looks needy, or doesn’t
have anything to offer, we often just pass by them. That kind of relationship
takes time and money, a costly and draining proposition. Perhaps we cross that road
and take someone on…as a project. We
give, we give, and we give. Nothing comes back in return. We have our
expectations, and when the person doesn’t comply to the vision of our
investment, we wash our hands and walk away.
I think about the good Samaritan. He crossed the road. It cost him time and money. We don’t even
know if the man he was trying to save lived or died. The hard truth to
understand is this….he didn’t do it for the investment. He didn’t receive
anything in return. So why did he cross
the road to his own peril to help an enemy to live?
I wrestle with that question sometimes here in Dondo. There
isn’t a single man lying on the road here. There are thousands. It is easy to slip into
the idealogy of taking on a project or two. It is easy to triage, apply a
bandaid and move onto the next patient. It is easy to put a coin into a beggar’s
hand and walk away.
Manuel is a beggar in Beira. I have passed by Manuel a few
times. When I had coins, I handed them over to him muttering under my breath
that he, like so many, is capitalizing on his handicap. He is after all, one of hundreds begging on
the streets. Finally one day I decided to quit passing by him. I decided to get to know him.
Manuel has been in a
wheelchair since polio changed his life at age five. Surprisingly, he is
married with six children. I decided to
accompany him to his home to see what conditions he lived in. The area of Beira
he took me to was nothing shy of squalor. The houses were two feet apart, with wall
to wall garbage for sidewalks. The water level was too high for the location of
the tiny dwellings. Manuel’s house had been constructed of bamboo poles, rocks
and cement. Part of his house had
collapsed because of the termites on the wood so he had stuffed blocks in the
hole for some privacy.
His wife was blind in one eye due to a cataract. His
children ranged from two years to fourteen. Only two were in school because his
earnings from begging did not entitle the rest to afford school. I sighed
wondering if I had the energy to help one more person. I asked him if he wanted
to get out of begging and earn his own living. He almost cried when I mentioned
it. He admitted that in 2007 a missionary lady had briefly helped him to build
this home. She hadn’t taken the time to
understand that termites weaken bamboo and houses with termites don’t last.
We went to wholesalers and bought all kinds of food products
to sell. I gave him a Bible and prayed
over his business before I left. But
this is not the end of the story. I will
return, time and time again because this is only the beginning. If I am really
going to help, it is going to cost me more than a band aid. I have to cross the road, give up my time and
money, endure the disappointments because he will fail more than once. Poverty is deep and complicated. I have no
guarantee that he will successfully pull out of poverty any more than the good
Samaritan could guarantee the man in the road would live. So why bother?
Because this fight exemplifies and glorifies God. It is exactly what He did for us and so much more. In all our egotism, it is easy to forget our own desperate condition. The next time you choose a friend, seek out someone who cannot benefit you; a friendship that will cost you. Someone who stands a chance of surviving because you laid aside your earthly investments in the hope of an eternal one. It’s just not all about us.
And when you think of it...pray for Manuel, Lourenco, Antonio, Fatima, and others we have started in a business. May God help them to succeed!
