Looking back on: Monday October 19, 2009

“I got the poo on me!” I thought it strange that a quote from a terrible teenage-boy movie would spring to my mind this morning; little did I realize that it would prove to be oddly prophetic.

This morning we went to take a few months worth of baby formula to a mother outside of town. We stopped outside what looked like an abandoned run down building, and walked around the side through something similar to the swamp from The Lord of the Rings (the one that Samwise comments smells like a ‘bog’). To help us to not sink into the steamy abyss, there were conveniently placed stepping stones which were both extremely slippery, and semi-immersed. Halfway there was conveniently placed a bit of a well for people to wash their feet with before crossing the second half.

Just as treacherous on the way back!

We finally reached the end and walked up a bit of a slope to a small shack. It was poverty; a two room (rooms not even as big as a double size bed) shack put together with bits of old fence and tin roof. Looking around, noticeably absent was a toilet, which, in a country that often uses the same real estate for the toilet and shower, means that a shower was noticeably absent also. There was no electricity hook up, no running water that I could see, and rubbish littering the place. Rusty nails poked out of everything, and living there was a mother, father, and four young boys.

One of the boys had something to eat while we were there, rice with sugar on top, and the only other food to be seen was two dragon fruits.

It’s hard to look at it all without showing some sort of sympathy, especially when one is used to seeing such affluence, however think if you were in hospital or some such, and everyone who came to see you just looked sad. You have to smile while being there, sharing your joy and keeping from them your sadness, and more than anything, you have to enjoy the people.

Hanging up in the bedroom was a picture of Buddha, which made me think. Buddhism has a stronghold over this country because for a lot of people, things are crap, and Buddhism is in response to that. Buddhism presents an escape from the suffering, escape through what is, fundamentally, spiritual euthanasia. One would think that the good news of Christ would have made more inroads in the 100 plus years that it has been in the country, but all we have to show is about 1% Christian.

The problem I think may be this. Some people look at the situation as people are spiritually poor, and need Jesus. That is true, but Christianity at that face value only gets in the way of people escaping from their suffering. If Buddhism sees things as crap, and offers an escape, then Christianity looks like it will stop them from escaping. Christianity offers eternal life, which is precisely what a Buddhist is trying to escape.

Sure, you don’t want to create rice Christians, but a rice Christian may be better than a not-Christian. A person’s eternity might be of great importance, but to them, the here and now is of even greater importance, especially when coming from a Buddhist mindset. So in this context, preaching the gospel without helping the people is preaching a dead gospel. Church planting without social justice is impotent.

Maybe another time though.

After seeing the mother and her sons, we returned home and the kids had their lunch. Sangwan and I then went to eat foreign food at a nearby restaurant before heading out to another one of Compasio’s ministries.

This ministry is in the centre of the local wet market and seems to outreach to working children. I must repent, when I first saw the boys there I initially thought they looked like punks, especially the one with the bandana and basketball jersey. Maybe I was right, but they were good kids. We cleaned the lot next door, which was full of rubbish, and I noticed an animal had been their recently, what with the fresh steaming pile of crap. When we finished, I looked down and saw on my hand what looked like poo. Then, letting out a bit of a scream, my attention was pointed to my shorts, which had what looked like a LOT of poo. Now that I’ve successfully ruined my chances with any girl who reads this, we can continue. Trying to wash it off, the boy with the bandana and basketball jersey came and really helped me, not caring that it was poo that he was helping to wash off. Sangwan helped too… for a moment, then went off to play and laugh at me. Then I was told off for wasting water. What a day, huh?

At night we went to the same oval we’ve been the past few nights for a run around. Suddenly the kids were telling me “don’t go home tomorrow”, and trying to bargain with me “stay for just…. just 1 month”. That’s fair enough, eh? But I think I’ll come back… no, I will come back. There is more for me to see.

~ by Mono on October 20, 2009.