Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Shelter

I walked into the small, cardboard tent , which was created to be a refugee shelter, and pondered: how could this serve as better housing for anyone? In an hour I would find out.


We drove up to the ¨Buen Samiritano¨ community, ironically named. Rey had heard the people in the community called “invaders” because they divided up land that did not belong to them. Some of the families of AFE live in that community, some garbage workers, and some who are just desperately poor.

A man cradling a baby came up to our car. “Please give me money for a doctor, my baby is sick.” And indeed she was…with bites all over her legs, sucking feverishly on a bottle, and crying angrily into my eyes.


Of course she was sick. She lived in one of the crowded “shelters” that dotted the land. A couple of sticks precariously held up garbage bags flapping in the wind. They were the size of the closet I once had in the states. Usually around six people lived in them and received little shelter from the wind and rain which entered as it wished.


The cardboard refugee house, airtight with a tarp covering it´s solid roof, was definitely a better option for these people. Thank you, Aid Matrix, for providing the shelters for thirty families. The need is overwhelming in Honduras - over 100 people lined up for the thirty shelters - but God is at work, moving in the hearts of people like you and me.

"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.' (Luke 10:33-25, The Message)

1 comment:

Carol Gerzsenye said...

Congratulations on your new church building! What fantastic things you are all doing there in Honduras! Thank you so much for serving the Lord there. love, David & Carol Gerzsenye