What is our duty?

Social Responsibilities

This is an interesting concept I have been throwing around: social responsibilities. Currently I am reading both Three Cups of Tea and Jesus with Dirty Feet. Both of which dance around this idea.
“All citizens of God’s nation mess up, and so all citizens of God’s nation must pick up the rag and water basin to serve and give and lead.” Everts from Jesus with Dirty Feet writes.

Here are a few things that we do currently that I will begin to do regularly:
Bread Runs:
This simple concept brought me to tears (I know, not a big feet…) within minutes. We, International Orphanage Union (IOU), to a mountain town that is torn by extreme poverty and bring them bread. We bring chocolate milk, bread, fruits, cereal, & warm smiles. As we did this the other day, we simply walked the streets of Sipe Sipe looking for hungry families. Although this is only a small snack and by no means is curing the malnutrition that is wiping this town, we are trying to make a small difference by showing Christ’s love through actions.

Baby Washing:
We do this each Saturday evening. Today, when we arrived, mothers and children were wrapped around the plaza. When Mickey (missionary in charge of this, but not from International Teams) arrives, the children go crazy. Its beautiful to watch. Each child and parent receives warm milk and fresh bread. While enjoying that the rest of us are preparing to begin the wash. We set up a tent and warm some (lots) of water. After washing the children from their heads to their toes, they receive one new-to-them outfit. Pink, blue, spider-man, floral print –it truly does not matter to these children. They are so grateful to be clean for the first time since last Saturday and to have new clothes on. After they are clean and dry the little girls can get their hair done with brand new hair clips (they love this!!) and the boys play ‘futbol’ with the older boys.
This is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) activities. What a humbling experience to literally wash the feet of others who see things day to day that I could only dream of.

Helping out at the Malnutrition Hospital:
There is only one malnutrition hospital in all of Bolivia like this. It is beautiful! Children who are malnourished for any number of reasons are brought here. Sometimes by parents, often by the government. The children stay in the hospital for 6 months to be nursed back to health. COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE! Although with programs like St. Jude’s and Ronald McDonald, this is an idea we are familiar with, this is not familiar by any means in Bolivia. So much so, that often times parents will simply walk by the hospital after arriving thinking they cannot afford it.
We go and help feed the children at lunch time, put them down for naps, and play with others. There children literally jump and cry for joy when we walk in. The hospital is not yet at capacity, but they know that when we come they will get much more one on one attention. The hospital is doing a wonderful job, we are simply there to offer more hands. This is another difficult task for a number of reasons. The children are simply tiny and so fragile. It breaks my heart to think that there are so many more children in Bolivia, Chicago, and the world who face similar problems. And although we are only there a few hours, the children are very upset to see us leave. This too is hard. We are often reminded that we are doing all that we can and by focusing this attention on them, the children know they are loved.

Along with a number of other ‘smaller’ ministries that we do throughout the week. Recently, Andrea and I have found ourselves comparing much of what we do day to day with things that occur in Chicago. Although this, Bolivia, is currently my calling, I am grateful for this opportunity to have my eyes opened to issues that still need to be addressed at home.

Love and Blessings