When I was a child, I did not have any worries in the world. I grew up in a welcoming and joyful neighborhood, with friendly neighbors in a loving community. I would play outside on the swing set, ride bikes with my sisters, make forts in trees, sidewalk chalk the streets, play dress up with friends, and just mess around doing what any kid would do when they are a young and free.
Some of my fondest memories from childhood that I will always cherish were those hot summer days when I would be playing outside and I would hear the faint ringing bells of the ice cream truck up the street and on its way to my house. As the ice cream truck bells would get closer and closer, my taste buds would scream with joy. These were the best days ever. This was something I always looked forward to as a kid. It was always so much fun to look at the hundreds of ice cold, colorful, delicious treats on the side of the truck. It was always such a hard decision because there were so many different ice creams to choose from and they all seemed so good. I was always torn between the sponge bob squarepants passion fruit popsicle, the patriotic red, white, and blue rocket, and the gumball cone (the one where you would have to eat all the ice cream in order to get to the gum)…those were the best!
My childhood memories are some of the greatest memories I have and I will treasure them forever.
Well you see, the children here in Trujillo, Peru would say differently.
Their memories from childhood are not the ringing bells of ice cream trucks, but the obnoxious yet thrilling sounds of the dump truck driving up to dump piles and piles of rotten, overheated stinky trash into their community, they call home. When they hear the dump truck making its ways down the hot desert sand, they are screaming with joy and are excited to go work and search through the stench in hopes to find a bite to eat for the day. These children don’t have choices. They would consider themselves lucky to find a half eaten, day old, rotten apple, or a hot moldy yogurt jug with a droplet of yogurt. When they find something to eat in the piles of filthy diapers mixed with bug infested rotten meat, it is like finding buried treasure in a sea of dirt.
These are the memories the children in Trujillo, Peru have to cherish from their childhood. This is their reality.
The American way of thinking: “The more I have, the more I want, the more I think I deserve.”
We have so many options and choices in our lives…
Here are only a few of the millions of examples I came up with:
-We have at least one hundred different brands of water…is this necessary?
-We have hundreds of toppings to put on our ice cream.
-We have different choices of flavors to add into our soda.
-We have different pairs of shoes for different outfits.
-We have an obsessive amount of clothes in our closets.
-We have different brands of toilet paper for crying out loud.
Yet we think we need more…
We also have a choice everyday to help make a difference and change this way of thinking in our society and to change our hearts to help serve those who are struggling to survive with basic needs.
Don’t get me wrong, these choices are great….but I think we consume ourselves with these unnecessary needs and forget about the people who are living with no food, no water, no shoes, no home, no hope.
This community is filled with poverty, violence, hatrid, loneliness, hopelessness, and sadness. These people are abused, they are unloved, and they are hurting, they are hungry. These are things we don’t think twice about. These people are living in a dump. Literally. They are living amongst human and worldly waste.
My eyes have been opened to a whole new world. This is something people only hear and read about…but I am actually experiencing this and seeing it with my own eyes. I could never fully wrap my mind around what it meant to live in a dump, but after being submerged in a community for a month and spending time with these adults and children who call this a reality, it puts everything into perspective.
This month, we have been working with an organization called Inca Link. Their mission is to lead the 300 million children in Latin America to know Christ. The people in this community are desperate for God’s love and need a vision for hope. I believe in Inca Link’s mission and I have been so honored to be a part of their vision for the future of this broken community. The people in this community are not only starving for food, but they are hungry and starving for God’s love and Inca Link is bringing hope back into this town.
My heart is heavy for the people in this town because I can’t change their circumstances. I can’t buy them food or change where they live. I feel guilty knowing that when I leave here, their conditions will not change and I am able to go back home to my comfortable lifestyle. Sometimes I don’t understand why God lets people live this way. This is one of those questions that may never be answered but I am trying to see through Gods eyes and understand his purpose in all of this.
I have seen God working in this community to spread hope. I have seen children gather and pray, and I have seen children smile as we are skim boarding and sand boarding. I have seen children learning at the daycare center and getting an education, I have seen laughter despite of what these children are going through. I have seen the organization, Inca Link, working in this community to share the love of Christ and it has been beautiful.
But Inca Link still needs your help!
They need to finish up the construction for the orphanage that they have been visioning and working towards for the past 5 years. But before they can finish the orphanage and open up this retreat center, the government has told them that they must have $150,000 in the bank. This ministry will get children out of the dump in which they are living. Some of these children do not have parents, they are abused, they are mistreated, involved in gangs, they kill, and they are unloved. This orphanage will house about 75 children, get them out of the streets, provide meals, offer classes to teach basic trading skills, and provide a safe place where they can grow and learn what it means to be loved.
If you feel called to donate in anyway or help sponsor a child in order for them to have an education, receive meals, and receive the love they deserve, please visit incalink.org for more information! Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer them as best as possible.
It is very important to reevaluate what you treasure and to realize what you have. Enjoy the things that God has given you and do not take them for granted. Take a minute to thank the Lord for all that he has blessed you with and pray for those who are struggling to survive.
What you think is garbage, may give someone else pleasure
You would think these kids won the lottery when they jump with joy
after rummaging through the filthy trash, all the little girls and boys.
A half eaten apple, a chicken bone with rotten meat,
a jug with a drop of moldy yogurt, is all these people have to eat.
Why do people suffer, why do people have to live this way?
I just pray for answers, and all I can do is pray.
These people need love, these people need hope
These people need Jesus Christ, so they can learn how to cope.
These people are not just starving for food, they are starving for a change
They need God’s loving presence to help them rearrange.
We have the power to help the ones in need
and we need to start making a difference and do the world a good deed.
Spread the love of the Lord to the nations of the earth
and start showing people they are loved and giving them self worth.
When you feel like you have nothing, stop and think
These people are living in garbage and are surrounded by stink.
They wake up every morning not knowing what their next meal will be
They need some helping hands and someone to set them free."
Take care and God Bless 🙂
& don'f forget to check out Incalink.org and start making a difference!
