An overheard conversation....

I was waiting in the doctor's office this morning for Michaela's check up and overheard a conversation taking place next to me. It was between 2 women...a mother and daughter that were also waiting to have the doctor see the new baby they were passing back and forth. Apparently, a family member was preparing to go on a mission trip and raising support. They chatted on and on about how there are poor children and families here that need our help before we go "gallavanting" around the world to help other nations. As I watched the little baby settle in for a bottle, I had to bite my lip so hard I thought it was going to bleed. I can't even count the number of times I have heard people say that we "need to take care of our own" before taking care of people around the world.

How many government programs do we have in this country that provides for people who are in poverty or in bad situations...food stamps, disability, unemployment, housing assistance, utility assistance, medicaid, etc. Is the system perfect...far far from it, but the resources are out there.

Between Michael and I, we have travelled to Mexico, Haiti, Venezuela, and Guatemala. I also went on a trip to the slums of inner-city Dallas to work with the children that live in the neighborhoods that people avoid at night.

Can I share with you an observation I have made?
Those children in Dallas, even in their heartbreaking surroundings, look like the luckiest children in the world compared to children in Haiti and Mexico. The children in America had clothes...probably dirty and mismatched, but clothes nonetheless.

The children in America had food...again, probably not the most nutritional or best, but the children in the poorest areas of the world die of starvation after their little bellies swell to the point they look like they could burst.

The children in Haiti were lucky to live through their first year...a baby in the village we were staying in died while we were there because of the conditions she lived in. In America, there are programs to give people formula that cannot afford it.

In Haiti, children were lucky to have a hut to live in with a dirt floor. In America, even the families with no home have shelters to go to where they can sleep and get a meal.

In poor countries, people who become disabled are often times out of luck and get no support. In America, people who cannot work due to a disability at least receive a little bit of assistance...and even some people who CAN work in some type of job can receive disability assistance.

In Haiti or Mexico, as with so many other countries, if a person becomes ill or injured they may have to travel by foot for hours to a clinic to receive help...oftentimes by people who have to make do with what they have in terms of supplies. In America, again, not that the system is perfect, but an emergency room cannot turn down a person just because they cannot pay. An ambulance can come get someone and rush them to medical care in a hospital where things are sterile andsupplies are abundant.

PLEASE do not misunderstand me....the children who are in bad situations here need help! BUT, so do the children in other parts of the world. Why does it have to be an either/or situation? How can we turn our backs on such suffering even in a country that seems so far removed from our own?
I have said it before and I will say it again...the poorest people in this country have it better than many people in third world nations. I know a lot of you will not agree with me, and that is okay. Based on my experiences, this is what I can say from my heart.

I will leave you with a link to a blog that is for the 'Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Cneter.' These people have a clinic that they run and instead of having families walk many miles back and forth to the clinic every day for treatment, oftentimes, the patients (mostly children from what I gather) stay at the Rescue Center until they can be released back home. Babies and children are sometimes left at their gate and the mission takes care of the children for at least 1 year in case the parents change their minds before putting them up for adoption. That is a lot to take on. They keep about 60 children at one time. Can you even imagine? When I see pictures of these precious babies...a 15 month old who weighs just 15 pounds...I see my sweet girls and think of how gut-wrenching it would be to watch one of them waste away before my eyes...tiny arms and legs and bloated tummies, having worms and scabies, and nowhere to turn for help. I pray that generous people would help me.
The clinic was hit very hard by Hurricane Ike. Please take a moment to visit their blog and say a prayer for them. The first few pages of their blog are full of pictures of the hurricane damage and a picture of the babies sleeping on a bed that just makes me want to go hold each one. But as you go to older posts pages there are pictures of the children that these dedicated people serve (being a medical clinic, there are a few graphic pics of children who have been burned or seriously injured.) Take a look and say a prayer. Donate whatever you can if you feel led.
Copy and paste (I can't get the link):
http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com