Sitting here on my sleeping pad I’m at a loss for words. We have been in the country for a day now and my heart is crushed. I saw poverty in Central America, but never have I seen anything as terrible as how these people are living.
The stench from the coal black river just outside the door is only the first indicator that these people live in a world of trash. Their entire homes are the size of my former walk-in closet. I feel ashamed to have felt the need to have a two bedroom apartment just so I could have an extra room for my stuff. The fact that my walk-in closet was filled with clothes and shoes disgusts me at this moment when children are walking around naked or with only a shirt.
This morning I went to use the bathroom and found a 5 pound rat scurrying away. There was also a mouse wondering around last night as we set up our beds, and I’m already beginning to scratch at the multiple mosquito bites I’ve collected. The cockroaches are larger than the lizards, but the ants are miniscule. Did I mention we are living in a very clean place?
We began ministry today by walking in the neighborhood to visit and pray for people. Walking through the homes was like walking through a maze. There are rooms built on top of rooms built on top of rooms. The ally way in which we walked through was not even as wide as my arm span. Beneath our feet was crumbled concrete, wooden boards and a trench of filthy water. Many people own dogs or cats and any open space holds a rooster tied to a post. The animals are not taken on walks or given litter boxes to relieve themselves so they use the walkways. The children are mostly barefoot or in flip flops. They’re dirty from head to toe, yet there is no yard where they have rolled. Instead they are playing around in the trash that surrounds their homes. The worst part is these children have a home to sleep in at night and meals most days, but the children living only 100 feet away on the trash dump do not.
Team Shekinah, the girls team who are working with us this month, visited Old Smokey Mountain today for their visitation time. The mountain is a mountain of trash. It’s been there so long grass does grow there and people have built their homes from the discarded material. Those who live there are only fed by ministries who bring them food. It’s not everyday, so children die often up there. Sweet Aroma has not been yet, and I just know that this month is going to get harder the more I see.
