Dumpster Diving……
Is what I used to jokingly say I would do when I recycled to help fundraise for the WR but I had no idea what real dumpster diving was. In my time in Honduras we went to the dump site twice to serve food to the community there. I say community because they see themselves as the people of the dumps, it’s where they live, work, and their kids play. Boy was that a rude awakening for me to see. To see literally huge piles of trash of people digging through to not only find recyclables but also their next meal was…heart-breaking. I envisioned my nieces and nephew digging through the trash for their next meal broke me and brought me to tears. I was in such shock to see that I didn’t really take the opportunity to talk with anyone so I took that time to pray, until 3minutes before leaving I met Arturo Gonzalez and he is a 15yr old boy who’s never gone to school and can’t read or even write his name. I was in disbelief over the fact.
On our second visit to the dumps I took more of an active role in being present and not just a voyeur. My goal for the short time there was to find Arturo and teach him how to write his name and leave him a practice sheet to hopefully practice his name. Well at first arrival I didn’t see him and I was disappointed and frustrated because I thought I wouldn’t be able to see him as I had told him I would. Well he found me.
Him and I along with few of his friends sat on the side of the bus practicing tracing/writing his name on the paper we had. It was evident that he had no experience holding a pen, let along tracing letters. We practiced holding a pen and tracing and writing his name a few times and going over the alphabet before I had to leave. My first reaction was being upset that I didn’t have enough time to really teach him how to write and recite the letters in his name, because in reality at home with kids how long do we take to teach them their ABC’s and their names, a long time….and here I am in like 1/20th of that time trying to teach well that was an impossible task. With that I felt like “what was the point”, but then I caught myself and asking God why did I even come. Well God gave me peace that although I couldn’t teach him to read or really write sentences let alone a simple word and what he needs to know from at least grade school. I was able to impact his day with seeing what his name looks like in print. I pray that at least he keeps that paper to remember what his name looks like on paper and he can at least know how to write his name.
God works in little ways and little successes just as he does in big ones. Always remember maybe you didn’t “save” someone from the situation they’re in but you did make a difference to somebody.
This is done all day everyday.
