This is a prayer that I wrote after we entered the slums last week. It gives one view of the reality far too many people live here in Kathmandu. Poverty here is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and my heart is broken in a whole new way. At this time, I’m unsure how to help the thousands of people living in the slums of Kathmandu. For now, exposure is the goal I’m after. Share this story with people. Talk about it. Destitution doesn’t have to exist and I know we can do something about it.
Lord,
We went to one of the slums in Nepal (near the Bagmati river) with two other teams. I was prepared for it to be dirty. I was prepared to feel helpless, disgusted, sad, or overwhelmed. I prayed for you to break my heart for what breaks yours. Lord, I feel you answered in spades.
God, what I experienced today wasn’t okay. It’s not okay that humans live in those conditions…let alone babies and children. It’s not okay that they were filthy and underfed. It’s not okay that they are all very likely abused in some way. It’s not okay that no one knows about it. It’s not okay, Father. I’m completely shattered and splintered inside. I don’t even know how to hold a brokenness this big.
We walked to this tiny building and our guide opened a door to a tiny room; their classroom. Most of us stayed behind and a few went with our guide to gather the street children to do VBS with them. We ended up with about 30 children, and we sang, danced, and told a few stories.
One little girl, about 3 years old, came in very guarded with a disconnected look on her face. I kept trying to make eye contact with her, even getting on her level, and she continued to stare into space. At one point, a little boy came over to her and started yelling at her in Nepalese. He was trying to drag her by her shirt and kept holding up his fist in anger. Even after I squatted down and put my hand out to show him “gentle” he continued to bully her. She picked a spot behind his shoulder and continued to stare there, not making eye contact. Everything about her demeanor expressed that she was disassociating to protect herself. It was as if she was thinking, “if I leave my body, I won’t have to experience what’s happening to me right now.” For most of the time that we were there, she stood and continued to stare off into space. I kept trying to get her attention, and trying to earn her trust. She continued to disengage. All I could do was pray and beseech You to touch her heart and protect her and save her.
Finally, all at once, she “came to” and looked at me and clamored into my lap. I just held her gently and rocked with her and held her hands. I prayed over her and spoke life and love and worth over her. At the end, we sang songs and she finally cracked a small smile. I just held her close and hugged her, kissed her, and prayed that she would find you and know that you have chosen her, fought for her, and won the Victory for her. She only let her guard down for a brief instant, but in that second, I could see that she was still fighting for her life.
Father, I don’t know what that little girl has experienced, and honestly I don’t think I want to know the facts. But I know she’s been hurt, abused in some way, and lives a very hard life. God please go to her. Rescue her from the life that’s been chosen for her. Grow in her a spirit of determination to make it out of the slums, to make a life for herself, and to go on to advocate for these people- her people.
Lord, this is my prayer for all of those slum children, but especially that little girl. Please help me to process what I saw and what I experienced. Let the brokenness in my heart for your orphans remain, but apply soothing balm to the wound for now. It is my most sincere honor to be broken for what breaks you, but walking around bleeding isn’t practical. Please give me peace in knowing that those sweet baby angels are your children and that you see them, love them, and have a future for them. Hold them in your arms and chase after them.
We did slum ministry this week. Kathmandu is home to multiple slums along the dirty banks of the many rivers here. Houses are built with bamboo shoots, tin sheets, and tarps. Floors are dirt and there are makeshift kitchens and no bathrooms. Children are covered in rashes, bugs, and dirt. Many are happy and well taken care of by their parents. Others are neglected- left so mom and dad can make a living begging, stealing, or selling their bodies.
The government comes through every few years and destroys the makeshift villages, further setting back the people who live there. We think we know about slums, about poverty, but in truth, we don’t. These people literally have nothing, apart what they can manufacture by the work of their own hands. They have no access to medical care, no school for their children, and no fathomable way to dig themselves out of the mire.
TAMI Asia is the organization we’ve been working with this month. They work in several capacities: to set up local churches, grow up leadership in communities, and serve at-risk women and children. They are the people who work in the slums, and in bars around Kathmandu to rescue children without homes and women in sex trafficking. They give them a hope for the future, and rehabilitate and equip them to be successful so they never have to return to the lives they once lived. If you’d like to learn more about TAMI or support the work they are doing here in Nepal, please head to their website.
Lastly-please pray for the people in the slums and the women in sex trafficking. Spread the word. No woman or child deserves to experience the things my eyes have been opened to this month.
