In over my head... or "feeding the 5000"
A month ago my housekeeper explained that kids at her children's school were fainting in class because they were hungry. All the parents had been called in and told to feed their kids before sending them to school. Of course, there were no plans made to address the situation leading to hunger at home. No plans were made to help families meet the needs. Just informing people that if you are a good parent, your kid will eat before school.
I felt a little connection click in my various worlds: lots of people I know WANT to help kids in need., but it is hard to find the needs that are greatest. There are lots of big and small donations to a few known orphanages around town. Even a person searching intentionally for groups that provide for needy kids will have a hard time locating one. The orphans are actually the ones who have it pretty good. Food, clothes and beds... all provided. They go to school every day and have help with their homework. Pretty ok, actually. You don't actually have to lose your parents to be an orphan either... well, one of them, but you can still have a family member you visit over the holidays, etc. Most of the registered orphans are not abandoned waifs with no connections.
Thousands of families live right at the edge of poverty every day. They send their kids to school at a huge sacrifice: they buy 10 cent notebooks and 3 cent pencils. Make sure they have a $5 uniform and off they go. School. Mom and Dad might not work at a real job. They might not have a garden plot that produces enough for the family. They scrape by each month and borrow from family or neighbors to get by... not quite able to pay the debt. Not quite ready to give up. They are hungry. They don't have basic needs met. But the family sticks together through it all. Hoping that it can change tomorrow. Hoping...
My rich friends (any person with a job, house, and some disposable income at all) and the fainting kids will never meet... or even know about each other. I cannot ignore the fact that I DO know them. I visited that school. It serves the highest density parts of town. These houses are built on a rocky hill without sanitation services, little access to clean water and just enough electricity for the lucky ones. A few years ago it was the biggest school in town with 2,500 kids from grade 1-7. They study in shifts... a thousand at a time. Not a fun place logistically, but normal for here.
I presented the need on Facebook and got lots of positive response. A few Mozambican church people seemed interested in helping in some way and my ideas got bigger.
What if we made good, nutritious breakfast porridge with locally sourced ingredients? We could hire local, unemployed moms to cook and serve huge pots of the stuff. Any kid with a cup, and a reason to be on the premises would be served. They would line up and slurp it down... and go to class with a warm belly full of nutrition. The cold season is coming, and the harvest this year isn't good. They would love it.
We hiked through administrative hoops and loops until we found someone who could answer our questions: Has anyone done this in town before? Is this a real need or are we making it up? What permission would need to be granted and by whom? Can we do this on-site and with our own staff and admin?
Today, I met with the latest contact in the search for answers. Sure, we can do this. The school council will need to approve stuff for you and maybe help to chose staff. The school is bigger now. There are now over 5000 students in primary.
Nooooooo! My mind screamed. That is totally out of control. We were pushing it to deal with 3000 kids, now we are talking about 5000.
"We don't have funding yet for the 3,000, so I guess God can find the funds for 5,000 if that is what is needed," I heard my determined voice clearly state to the man with eyebrows raised in my direction.
I am in way over my head. That's ok. God will slam doors and lead us to more reasonable school. Whatever. It is up to him. In the mean time, I am here to share dreams of a country where kids have enough energy to learn in school. Where reading God's words can be an everyday activity. Where caring about our neighbors shows how much we love Jesus. That's all. The Gospel in a cupful.
I felt a little connection click in my various worlds: lots of people I know WANT to help kids in need., but it is hard to find the needs that are greatest. There are lots of big and small donations to a few known orphanages around town. Even a person searching intentionally for groups that provide for needy kids will have a hard time locating one. The orphans are actually the ones who have it pretty good. Food, clothes and beds... all provided. They go to school every day and have help with their homework. Pretty ok, actually. You don't actually have to lose your parents to be an orphan either... well, one of them, but you can still have a family member you visit over the holidays, etc. Most of the registered orphans are not abandoned waifs with no connections.
Thousands of families live right at the edge of poverty every day. They send their kids to school at a huge sacrifice: they buy 10 cent notebooks and 3 cent pencils. Make sure they have a $5 uniform and off they go. School. Mom and Dad might not work at a real job. They might not have a garden plot that produces enough for the family. They scrape by each month and borrow from family or neighbors to get by... not quite able to pay the debt. Not quite ready to give up. They are hungry. They don't have basic needs met. But the family sticks together through it all. Hoping that it can change tomorrow. Hoping...
My rich friends (any person with a job, house, and some disposable income at all) and the fainting kids will never meet... or even know about each other. I cannot ignore the fact that I DO know them. I visited that school. It serves the highest density parts of town. These houses are built on a rocky hill without sanitation services, little access to clean water and just enough electricity for the lucky ones. A few years ago it was the biggest school in town with 2,500 kids from grade 1-7. They study in shifts... a thousand at a time. Not a fun place logistically, but normal for here.
I presented the need on Facebook and got lots of positive response. A few Mozambican church people seemed interested in helping in some way and my ideas got bigger.
What if we made good, nutritious breakfast porridge with locally sourced ingredients? We could hire local, unemployed moms to cook and serve huge pots of the stuff. Any kid with a cup, and a reason to be on the premises would be served. They would line up and slurp it down... and go to class with a warm belly full of nutrition. The cold season is coming, and the harvest this year isn't good. They would love it.
We hiked through administrative hoops and loops until we found someone who could answer our questions: Has anyone done this in town before? Is this a real need or are we making it up? What permission would need to be granted and by whom? Can we do this on-site and with our own staff and admin?
Today, I met with the latest contact in the search for answers. Sure, we can do this. The school council will need to approve stuff for you and maybe help to chose staff. The school is bigger now. There are now over 5000 students in primary.
Nooooooo! My mind screamed. That is totally out of control. We were pushing it to deal with 3000 kids, now we are talking about 5000.
"We don't have funding yet for the 3,000, so I guess God can find the funds for 5,000 if that is what is needed," I heard my determined voice clearly state to the man with eyebrows raised in my direction.
I am in way over my head. That's ok. God will slam doors and lead us to more reasonable school. Whatever. It is up to him. In the mean time, I am here to share dreams of a country where kids have enough energy to learn in school. Where reading God's words can be an everyday activity. Where caring about our neighbors shows how much we love Jesus. That's all. The Gospel in a cupful.
Comments
Post a Comment