Do you know that girl? The one over there washing her clothes in a pale yellow bucket? What about that boy, the one playing with sticks in the dust beside the road? Do you know the man in the crisp white shirt, holding a briefcase and sitting on the back of a bicycle taxi? Now there is a young boy in front of us, stealing sugarcane off the back of a loaded truck, and another begging for money on the streets. Do you know them?
No?
Neither do I.
I know nothing about these people, save the brief impressions as we drive through the dusty streets of Kenya.
We spent time with Kenyans during our time in this country. As I have listened to the stories of the few we met, I have heard tales of sorrow and strength. And I want to write their stories down and share them with as many people as I can.
But there are countless more who I will never know, never hear about and consequently never share their stories in my world. No one I know will ever know their plight and in turn have the opportunity to help them.
But what I do know is that God knows them. He knows their language, the size of their birthmark, what they last ate. He knows their hopes, their obstacles, their future and their past.
That is of comfort to me. The more we have travelled, the bigger my world has become. Too big. It can be overwhelming when I think about all the great need in this world. Everywhere we go, people are starving, people are living in the pits of poverty with no ladder out.
What I’ve loved about our task is that we get to hear the stories of how ladders are being built to help people out. When I see the masses in the markets, outside our car as we race by, peering out of houses and loaded in taxi vans, it can seem like nothing can be accomplished, no strategies can help. But to meet individuals like Pastor Michael, a small church pastor learning farming techniques to help feed his family and make as bit of an income, I know change is possible. It is in the individual lives where we see God’s hand at work. And individual lives affect families that affect communities which in turn can affect nations.
So do you know that girl? Maybe not. But by helping those we do know, someone who knows that girl may one day be able to help her too.Do you
Lorene your “blogs” always leave tears in my eyes and make me ponder on your words – not always easy to think about the things you are seeing & writing about but hopefully it will make a change in our lives for the good and we’ll be challenged to do more for the widows, orphans and poor of the world.