Compassion

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humilty, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

This passage is easy to live out here in the DR. We go into the villages each day and play with kids who are dirty, stinky, hungry, and needy in so many ways and we love them, play with them, feed and clothe them, and give them the attention they so dearly want and need. Makarios is working on providing jobs and educational opportunities to help raise their standard of living. Groups like the one from the Austin Stone have come down and taught hygeine, first aid, toothcare, and other health related topics. But the real question is, will I live this verse out when I return to the states. Will I have compassion for everyone I know and those I don't know at home?

The last two days, we have taken older kids from one of the villages to the beach and the younger kids to the park. They live just miles away from lots of great things, but because of their poverty and lack of opportunity, most of the kids don't get to leave the village, and if they do, its on foot and not very far. So, for them, this was a big deal. Today, when we went back to the village after lunch, the younger kids were waiting for us fully dressed, which they never are during normal village life. They are all in various stages from naked to a shirt and shorts in the village. Today, not only were they wearing clean clothes, but they all were wearing shoes. Clearly, this was going to be a big deal and the mothers had dressed their kids appropriately. When was the last time just going to the park was a big deal? They had such a ball, all loaded in the back of the truck driving through town, swinging and sliding to their heart's content. Then everyone had an ice cream cone. One of the other joys was loading them all back into the Pathfinder and driving 12 kids and 3 adults back the 10 or so miles to chichigua. They were mostly well behaved, although a few got tired and started crying and one was feeling sick.

Well worth it to see the joy on these kids faces, they deserve so much more that what their lot is in life. There were several in the last group who wanted to pack as many of these kids in their suitcases and take them home to the states. Part of me wants to do the same, but then part of me realizes that their life, for better or worse, is in the bateys - that is where their family and friends are, that's the life they know. So instead of taking them to where life is better, we need to be making their lives better where they are.