Yesterday, I went out on pastoral visits to the homes of some people who need a little extra help. One of those homes is on the edge of our city dump. A city dump in Mexico. You can only imagine. This lady's little strip of land and her partially finished, two or three-roomed home are inundated with all the putrid odors that emanate from the dump on a regular basis, depending on the direction and strength of the wind. Her yard is littered, no, cluttered with all the items she and her children have "salvaged" from the site. Junk. Literally.
She's living with, not married to, a man who has given her two precious children, eleven and thirteen years old. He is an alcoholic. He beats his wife. He beats his children. He spends what he makes drinking and she pays the bills and buys the food sorting garbage in the dump. To top it all off, she says she loves him.
He will not allow her to come to church. In fact, he doesn't allow her to do a lot of things. She is under no legal or moral obligation to stay with him, but she refuses to leave. Furthermore, she always takes him back after he runs out and "grazes in other pastures" when he gets bored with her.
The bright spot, in my opinion, is that her children are still in school. I told the eleven year-old boy to keep studying so that some day he could help his mother get ahead. I encouraged her to motivate them to keep at it in school. In my opinion, it's the only thing that will make life a little easier in future, if they live that long.
Contrary to my innate "fix-it" nature, these are cases in which one can only help in the areas in which one is allowed to help. I left her with 70 pesos (the equivalent of six and a half dollars), my prayers and well-wishes.
On a political note, I'm not big on social programs. However, in this case, I think this family could use some help. Unfortunately, her irresponsible husband would probably be the recipient of most of the benefit.
On a lighter note, I went to pray for a couple in our congregation who is very ill with the flu. It was pitiful, really. Four kids all over the place and mom and dad too sick to do anything. So, I took dad to the doctor in town and got him all diagnosed and prescribed, took him home.Thanks for stopping by, curious reader.