Visible Poverty

Man sleeping on church steps in San Cristobal

In Canada, our children observe very little evidence of poverty, aside from a few individuals asking for money at stoplights.  Here they see examples of it each day, examples which are more extreme than the poverty seen in Canada:

• People risking their lives by riding north to the USA on the tops of trains.
• People sleeping on the streets.
• Inebriated people passed out on the sidewalks.
• People asking for money everywhere.
• Children selling goods to help support their families.
• Elderly and disabled people begging outside the grocery store.
• Children coming to our door, asking for food.
• People walking without shoes and wearing scraps of very dirty clothing.
• One room shacks serving as homes.
• People searching through garbage for salvageable materials.
• Stray dogs wandering everywhere.




People riding the train north, hoping to make a better life in the United States

 
Mostly, our children don't comment on what they see, but I know they are watching and thinking.  As a parent, we try to answer their questions, but the issues are complex.  What is the right answer?  Should Hannah buy bracelets from a girl her age so the girl makes some money, or should she buy it from an individual of a more reasonable employable age?   The answers that work in Canada do not necessarily exist or work in Mexico. 

Recently, Hannah, Jude and Jeremiah were waiting outside a market stand while I navigated the narrow aisles buying vegetables.  Hannah urgently came to find me because she saw a man with a huge stick hit a poor man over the head.  The man sat down on the side of the road holding his bleeding head while people watched. 

It would be simpler if our children didn't witness these examples of poverty, but it is not an option here.  My prayer is that our children will have compassion and not be desensitized.  After the market incident, I asked Hannah what she thought and she said she didn't know, but it made her feel strange.  I interpret that to be a sign of her tender heart, confused by what she is witnessing.

The Spirit of the Lord and King is on me.
      The Lord has anointed me
      to tell the good news to poor people.
   He has sent me to comfort
      those whose hearts have been broken.
   He has sent me to announce freedom
      for those who have been captured.
   He wants me to set prisoners free
      from their dark prisons.
 ² He has sent me to announce the year
      when he will set his people free.
   He wants me to announce the day
      when he will pay his enemies back.
   Our God has sent me to comfort all those who are sad.
    ³ He wants me to help those in Zion who are filled with sorrow.
   I will put beautiful crowns on their heads
      in place of ashes.
   I will anoint them with oil to give them gladness
      instead of sorrow.
   I will give them a spirit of praise
      in place of a spirit of sadness.
   They will be like oak trees that are strong and straight.
      The Lord himself will plant them in the land.
      That will show how glorious he is.

From Isaiah 61 NIRV