Struggling With Poverty

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'" -Matthew 25:31-45

There is not a day that goes by where this passage does not pass through me head, for there is not a day that goes by without being surrounded by those who are hungry, thirsty, needing clothes, or sick. It's easy to live your life in the States in a way that you're never really confronted with poverty, where you never see how much you have in comparison to how much others lack, where your conscience is never really challenged about how much help you provide for those in need, about how little you sacrifice for others.

But not here. Not here where having electricity every other day is a luxury. Not here where kids play on your street all day with dirty, ragged clothes and bellies more full of worms than food, not at school because their parents can't afford to pay their school fees. Not here where people struggle to pay rent for a 5x10 mud shack with dirt floors and a tin roof. Not here where AIDS and malaria run rampant and where people die every day because doctors lack the resources to save them. Not here where people line the streets of town just sitting and waiting all day, hoping that a truck will stop to unload some goods, or where they'll push several hundred pounds of bananas for miles uphill and down on a bicycle, because that's the only hope they have of making a few shillings that day. Not here where people come to your gate asking for help with school fees, with medical bills, with rent, with jobs, with food almost every day.

And what do you do? How do you discern between those really in need and those just trying to make a little money off the muzungu? Heck even those just trying to make a little money probably need that money more than I do. How do you help without creating dependency, making someone's longterm situation even worse than it was before you helped? How do you balance wise stewardship of your finances with sacrificing for the good of others, and where does that balance lie?

These are just some of the issues that tear at my heart, mind and soul on a daily basis here, and the only thing I know to do is to pray, to ask for wisdom, and to handle each situation individually as I feel led, never doubting the wisdom God has provided, even when that means saying "no" or saying "not today" or saying "not as much." And that is one of the greatest challenges of living in a place like Uganda.