"the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned."
While meditating on this verse, a picture of one of the garbage dumps we saw while exploring the city came clearly to mind. Shortly afterwards, for various reasons our team decided to call this part of the city home, and our family found our place to live in a poor community about 5 minutes bicycle ride away from the dump. Since living in the area I’ve been visiting regularly to drop off our garbage and chat to some of the people who live and work there.
Now in recent times I’ve been exploring a ministry/business possibility relating to cleaner burning cook stoves for the poor that use various kinds of biomass for fuel (more on this to come). Well it happens to be that some of the people who make their livelihoods from the dump already retrieve and cut up wood and coconuts to sell as a starter fuel for traditional coal/charcoal stoves. I’ve started to chat a bit with one of these guys, who is happy to cut some up to the right size for me when I need it. (I think there’s some good potential for more work and hopefully better prices for people to produce biomass fuels here).
Anyway, while down at the dump this morning I saw that the door of the little shack he uses to store the wood he’s prepared was open. So I thought I’d drop in to say hi. But instead of the guy who works there, lying on the tiny floor or leaning motionless on sacks of wood and coconut shells, I found a lady and two children around 5 and 7 years old (who I think were the man’s wife and probably grandchildren).
I was shocked by what I saw. The two kids were the most highly malnourished kids I’ve seen in our area. Their limbs were so thin. Unlike our kids who can barely keep still or quiet, there was no play, no talk. They hadn’t the energy for that. Flies were camping out on them, taking advantage of their lack of inclination to swat them away. After a brief exchange I felt intrusive and so said I’d be back in a few days to talk to the man I’d come to see. (We’re thinking about whether there’s anything we can do to help right now… will at least visit them again in the next couple of days to try to understand more of who they are and their situation).
As I rode my bike home, I was struck by a new level of darkness overwhelming some of the poorest people dwelling in this place. They have not yet seen much in the way of light. I wonder, are they even still waiting, or are they resigned to a life of stigmatisation, hunger and poverty? As I rode home, my prayer was for the light of Jesus to dawn in this place… that life may be restored, that justice, hope, joy and peace might come in Him. And that in whatever ways we are to be an answer to that prayer, that we might be given the strength, courage and love to be so.
