hunger

I would dare to say that no one I know personally has ever been in a situation where they had no access to food. Even in my own experiences, I have always been around an enormous excess of it. I eat what I want to and throw the rest out. The only times when I haven't had it have been during my silly extreme crash diets and have opted out on purpose. Needless to say, I have absolutely no idea what it is like to go hungry.

So I find myself in this new city, new country, new culture and environment where the concept of constant hunger pangs is a reality for millions of people. All I have to do is walk outside the walls of my flat, where there are families living down both sides of the street under tarps and in make-do houses. Children on the other side of the wall are skinny and malnourished, with no access to healthy food, dental care, medicine or proper clothes. Families on the other side of the wall put their children to sleep at night on the floor, in the heat, in the same clothes that they wear every day. This boundary between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is distinct. The wall is a very present reality. But what gets to me more than anything is that so many people in my neighborhood, in my community and in my reach, don't even have food. There are kids right outside my window that spend the day looking through dumpsters for anything to eat. How do I deal with it? I don't singlehandedly have the resources to solve the problem entirely, and I am here working primarily to help a different issue. But that doesn't change the fact that children on the other side of the wall are hungry, and that mothers are going without so that their kids can eat.

I pulled out my Bible to remind myself of what God has to say about this. I see Deut. 15:11, which says 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land." I see 1 Tim 6:18, which says that am 'to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share." I am working through how I can best answer that call and contribute to these people here. People who are human beings with the same needs as me. There are some homeless people I see every single day who are in my direct pathway, and I never want to get to the point of numbness that it doesn't break my heart. I am also big on the concept of putting my faith into tangible action, and I know that giving food or money for food is a way that I can show Christ's love to those who are not as fortunate. I know that God has called me to serve others and to joyfully give of what I have, and I am working on figuring out how best to do this. Where do you even start?