Poverty surrounds me not just the I can't go out to the movies but the ALL we have to eat is rice or I wish we had rice kind of poverty. The water has not made it to my street so I can't flush the toilet. My kid isn't growing and there is no electricity, three to a be and 80 degrees at night with mosquitoes pecking at me hope I don't get dengue fever poverty. My only pass-time is gossip and anger and somehow I have $ to get drunk. This is the poverty that surrounds me. The streets flood and we all lock ourselves in for the night hoping for sun in the morning. Just this week I sat in a house where the grandma was/is doing her best to care for her grand kids while one of her daughters bickers and fights like an eleven year old only she is at least 30. The swatting and cursing becomes abusive after you pass a certain age and your victims remain younger and younger.
But I see hope in a 15 year old's eyes. He is going to make it. Determination that he will not be a slave in poverty. Strength and tenderness, affection and love. He will over come and change the cycle. No aunt will ever hit his child while they sit playing at the table.
I thank God you have given a helping hand to show the 15 year old how things can be better. I would love to see all the people you have been able to touch.
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