UPDATED**
As if on a mission, these ladies came out of the Sunday worship service one by one the morning I had preached at the church of my good friend, Tim Price. Each one asked me, "Which one is Caleb?" And I would point them to my oldest son.
You see, in my sermon I had included the story of Caleb's unsolicited generosity at age 9 when he willingly gave Melissa the two $20 bills he had been saving for Legos so she could take them to Haiti to give to two different needy families.
That Sunday morning in Troy, Illinois, Caleb (now 11) was caught off guard when these various ladies approached him, shook his hand and then handed him various twenties. Each lady said something like, "You take this money and pass it along to somebody else in Haiti who needs help." He was excited to end the weekend with around $100 to give away.
(** My wife reminded me that a very similar thing happened a few weeks later at the UMC of Grundy Center, Iowa! It is another sweet, sweet congregation and I would be remiss not to give them a 'shout out' here as well! Mea culpa.)
A day later, back home in Indiana, we were reading Stacey Ayars' blog account of Roselore, a Haitian woman who worked at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Saccanville cleaning houses and who struggled to keep her four children fed. (EBS is where I hope to do some teaching once we move to Haiti.) You should stop and take a few moments to read Stacey's account HERE. She's a great writer and it's a heart-breaking story. We agreed as a family that Roselore should be the recipient of the money that Caleb received.
We thought it best to send a bit at a time - to Stacey - and she could pass it along to Roselore as needed. Our friend Beka Mech was heading down to Haiti and would be visiting EBS within a few days, so Caleb sent a few twenties with her (** Melissa says $80!).
Then, when I was preparing to leave two weeks ago, we remembered that there was still $80 left to send to Roselore. I knew that I would be seeing the Ayars at EBS at some point, so I brought the money with me.
So after dinner at the Ayars' home last Tuesday night, I asked Stacey if Roselore was still working for the seminary.
"Yes, and it's so difficult because she wants more work but we don't have the budget to add any more days for her." Stacey explained that September is an anxious month for many parents in Haiti. School traditionally starts in October and the parents have to pay to enroll their students. Many, many are simply not able.
Any guess as to how much primary education costs in the neighborhood around Saccanville, where the seminary is located?
Poor Roselore has been fretting because she has not been able to save up the $16 each that it will cost to enroll her four children in school for the full year!
Which means ...that final $80 from the ladies at Troy and Grundy Center UMC will enable Roselore to enroll her kids for the year and provide a bit extra towards the clothing and books necessary to go along! Praise God! I wish you and I could both be there when Stacey tells Roselore and when Roselore tells her kids.
Can you imagine what life must be like for a parent who can't afford to educate her children for the lack of a hundred dollars? It's hard for us to even conceive of such an existence. I would guess that most American Christians have close to enough money sitting in our change jars to put Roselore's kids in school for a year.
"Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen
the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let
the oppressed go free
And break
every yoke?
"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring
the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
"Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."
Isaiah 58:6-8
May God forgive us. AND guide us in mending our ways.
And may God bless the ladies of the United Methodist Churches of Troy, Illinois and Grundy Center, Iowa!
No comments:
Post a Comment