Tuesday morning was a great recovery day with time spent packing around 250 bags for the residents of Prosperity City. God knows how to put together teams, for this team of detail-oriented people are perfect for this week of work! All of the survey data had been entered by a person who "excels" in Excel. Beyond that, a system was created using house numbers so all the bags correspond with the tickets given out during our survey. Each house received a bag based on the number of children in the home. There is not one "general factory" bag in the mix at all. Each child has a school notebook, pencil, eraser, ruler and toothbrush; the adults have a toothbrush, toothpaste for each house and a few other little things to make the bag complete. The order that went into the project allowed for an easy flow when we reached Prosperity City and distributed the bags.
"Grateful"...."Patient"..."Real"....these were the people who filled the outer gate at Liz's house today to collect their gift bags. Our team knew their faces and the gentleness and love of our Guyanese brothers and sisters overflowed all over the people. The American team were the runners who took the tickets and went to the back to find each person's bag. We let the Guyanese shine bright today and we did all the "behind the scenes" work. The Guyanese worked with the Guyanese to verify information and hand over the bags to each person. It was a smooth operation and God held back the rain. Who could ask for more blessing than that!
As we left Prosperity City today, Rhonda shared a conversation she had with Liz. It seems there are two organizations that bring food into the area every month or so. I knew of one of them, but it was interesting to learn that they only focus on the families who live on the Jetty. The families who live on the West side are overlooked because they don't have it as bad. One of our concerns has been how to bring these two communities together. Today, without realizing it, we took one step in that direction as we handed out bags to ALL the families. It was such a confirmation to all our endeavors and the decision to believe God for resources and knowledge to do more than we could ask or imagine for His children.
And we the team, are the changed people!
The impact of our time and the people we are meeting has been burrowing on our hearts. Yesterday, a team member fought back tears as the children were leaving, wondering about their future. Thoughts boiled to the surface... "I look and wonder who will make sure that they have what they need?" "Who will push them to excel?" "Those who have visible scars of abuse, how will that affect them as they get older? And what is being done now?" The two worlds of Prosperity City and RCHCC are two worlds apart, for certain. God has allowed us to be a part of both and reclaim hope in their lives. Today, it came through a small bag of school supplies for Prosperity City. Tomorrow, RCHCC will be given a lift in their spirits when we take one of the workers to buy school shoes for all the children. Beyond our tangible gifts, we leave a presence of relationship through the local church and prayers that will connect long after we return to our homes.
Written by Angie