Today was one of the most amazing, beautiful, heartbreaking days. We delivered new backpacks filled with school supplies. You cannot possibly comprehend the kids and families' faces when we gave them the backpacks. These families live in squalor - perhaps there is a different word that means extreme poverty. SARF raised enough money to pay for many of the kids from these families to go to school. The opportunity to go to school and get an education is everything to these kids and families - it means the possibility of breaking the "poverty cycle" for them.
Some of the kids are malnourished as seen by their hair, skin color, etc. Some of them are very dirty because they live on dirt floors with corrugated metal walls just laid together to make a box, which is where they sleep. They have outdoor kitchens fuel by wood fires to use if they have food to cook. When we visited the families, their genuine smiles and delight in seeing Missy, Dylan, and Jon - and yes, us :-) - were so evident. Guatemalan families are not ones to "take charity." Their culture is big on working to get what you have, which is why all of the initiatives that SARF is carrying here is so important. Teaching, loving, sharing, community, relationships!
SARF is working with 33 kids to get them education - and most importantly Jesus and the hope He gives us all. The tears continue from what I saw, heard, smelled and felt yesterday - there are no words. But as I look beyond the "materials things" of a nice home, sanitary conditions, etc., I weep more for those we work with who have not yet accepted Jesus - therein lies our what we are here for. My heart is broken.
I urge you to get on knees and pray for these families -
Apalonia and her two daughters
Carman and her family
Mirna and her daughter and son
Jackeline and her mother, son and daughter
Yanira and her siblings, who does not have a mother and is living with another family who already has a house full of mouths to feed
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