Poverty, was does it mean? To not have clean clothes? To not have clean water? Perhaps, to not have much food? I experienced poverty over the last two days like I have never seen and to be honest if I allowed my experience to completely soak in I don't believe that I would have the strength to even write this. This may seem like an extreme statement but what I have seen I will never, never forget. Yesterday and today I visited a home, or so they call it in the village of Mihalleni, Moldova. Not knowing what to expect, I was somewhat anxious and even a little nervous. We had with us a bag of food and our time, not even knowing what we were supposed to do, I walked through the gated yard, a yard of mud and I seen the most precious sight in the world. Children. Two kids were standing at the door, a little girl and a little boy. As a woman was standing by the home I concluded that she was there grandmother due to her age, however I found out that she was just a neighbor that checked in on the kids from time to time. Why would she check in on them? Because their dad left and their mom left as well. How long ago did they leave? We don't know but it has been awhile. So she comes and gives them food from time to time, not as if she does not have her own struggles. We went into the home which was smaller than most people's bedrooms and found 3 beds with a little stove, a little dog and alot of dirt. The children (Eliana & Dan) were very dirty especially Dan who was three. We had brought them some cookies and man did they eat them up. I think they ate half of a bag in just an hour. We sang some songs and just gave them the most important gift of all ..... Time. After an hour or so we had to leave and it was really hard, knowing that you have to always remember what you saw but also forgetting so that you could go on. It is hard to see poverty like this, especially when it involves children. I wanted to take them home and I would if I could and I mean that with all my heart. Today we went back and Dan the little boy was all by himself at three years old sitting in his bed. We got to bring him some bannanas and he ate three plus a granola bar and then candy. Even one of the natives who went with us said that he did not even know that this poverty existed in his village. The happy side of the story if there is one is this, our team was able to bring some socks to Dan because he had none, they brought them some little toys and they were loving it. Also, the wife of a member of the church said that she is going to check up on them and make sure they get fed. So, Slava Domnuluiu. (Praise God)
Most of us have never seen poverty like this and to be honest we don't like to think about it and often we try to avoid it and stay detatched from it but the truth is that poverty is all around us, everywhere you look whether it be physically, emotionally or spiritually. So I challenge you to confront this epidemic one life at a time.
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