Hunger

Today, every kid at Emanuel House received a pair of brand new "croc-like" rubber shoes.

And today, I found out that two of the kids of someone who works here at Emanuel House spent the weekend hungry.

I live/work at a ministry where kids are fed, where kids enter well dressed and clean most of the time, and where they spend 3-4 hours with smiles on their faces for the most part.  Their cleanliness, full bellies and smiles often make me forget their reality: tin homes with no bathrooms, very few clothes, little to eat, and often a single parent. I am so glad that I live here long-term and am able to build relationships with people and begin to understand their hardship...

It's the small experiences that help me start to understand.

Today, I was talking to one of the ladies that I work with about the weekend and how it was and she told me hers was horrible.  (She is the cleaning lady here and works so incredibly hard.)  She has two beautiful little ones who attend the foundation.  A few got to meet the little boy via SKYPE because he is around "after hours" many days.  Anyway, she told me that her weekend was horrible because the gas ran out and she didn't have any money.  (She didn't have any money, by the way, because the atm had not dispensed the money, but took it out of the account and because it wasn't her bank's atm, there is nothing that they can do.)

She had nothing to feed them.

So, Saturday & Sunday (days that the kids don't come here), they had nothing to eat.  A neighbor provided some food on Saturday, but on Sunday, they went hungry.

Can you imagine? A mother listening to her kids ask for food and she truly is unable to provide for them?  As she was telling me the story, she said, "They're just kids.  They don't understand.  They just know they are hungry!"

Listening to her, my heart was breaking, as I could see the deep hurt within her.

I asked her how I could help.  She believes that she will have gas to be able to cook & be able to buy food starting tomorrow, but as far as tonight goes, she didn't know how to get them food.  So, I bought her some bread, meat and cheese & threw in some cookies as a treat for the kids.  I know it is just a bandaid and will only help for today and tomorrow morning, but it's what I knew to do today.

I thank God that I don't just know her today.  I thank Him that there is tomorrow.  I thank God that she will come to work and that she'll bring her kids and that they will get fed.  I thank God for nudging me to ask how her weekend was!

She never would've asked for help...

I pray for wisdom in how to help.

Please pray for her and for her kids.  Please pray that God would give me and others around her discernment to know when times are hard.  Please pray that she is able to be rewarded for her hard work here and that the bank may somehow be able to give her her money back.  Please pray for a miracle...

Thank God for this place that feeds kids that truly may otherwise not get fed.  Thank God for reminding me of the reality of hunger around me, not just in the kids lives, but in some of the worker's lives too.

May He continue to humble me and strengthen my faith!