Meeting Poverty

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This is what spoiled looks like

A two-year old girl with dirt smeared on her cheeks, bare feet, and a distended belly wears a ripped, stained T-shirt bearing this slogan. She walks around the daycare for street-babies clutching the remnants of a plastic doll, and when I look into her deep brown eyes I see more than a curious toddler; I see a soul that has been to hell and back.

My heart stings with irony. She is the opposite of spoiled.

But who is to say what suffering really is? In Ghana, most people call it life. Signs of malnutrition and lack of health care, sweat pouring down the faces of street-vendors, elderly blind men begging at your window. Just life, right? We play with the cards we are dealt, but only win with God's grace.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Everyday I am presented with opportunities to give, but I question whether my meager gifts will truly be beneficial. Still, "How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see" plays in my head, and I feel overwhelmed with guilt. If only the "right thing to do" was as simple as holding a crying baby... because that's all that I feel I can do right now.

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Photos

Street Girls' Aid Creche
Lunch time

Comments

[shelley]

Wow. the picture you create w/ this terribly real and moving experience hits you at all levels visual, emotional, physical, spiritual. What a lovely, heartfelt and completely honest last line. Blessings to you, to all you encounter, and the furture of all these dear little souls.

[Iyke Yawson]

How so far with u
I read all the stories u posted on the blog. I want to know how far have u gone in search of what life can give u and how is Ghana so far in your objective mind