Poverty touches my heart in a special way since I have witnessed poverty first hand. Three years ago I attended a church mission trip to Nicaragua. Upon witnessing thousands of kids literally living in the “dump,” I felt my life was changed. While our group was there we held a camp about thirty minutes outside of the city in a pretty much deserted forested area for these kids to be able to retreat to. They were able to shower, have good meals, meet new friends from America, and we taught them about our faith. Most importantly, however, is what us Americans learned: to be grateful for what we have. When I returned to America I suddenly noticed the waste our country produces. An old raggedy t-shirt for us would mean trash, whereas in Nicaragua to these desperate people, it is a smile and even a tear in most cases.
A year later my family and I traveled to Guatemala to pick up Tanner, my newly adopted baby brother. We visited the orphanage that he was born and lived in for the first seven months. It is not only touching to witness the poverty stricken neighborhood where my brothers-later in the year we adopted Reese from Guatemala as well-were born, but it gave my family and I a sense of helpfulness. Tanner and Reese are the absolute loves our lives and on days like today (blog action day) when I am asked to write about poverty I cannot help think about this issue in terms of the way my brothers would have grown up if they had not been adopted and taken into our home.
I think it is terrible how statistics such as 80% of humanity lives on only $10 a day are true when Americans spend $10 on ten songs to download to their ipod while there are people in the world like the un adopted babies in Guatemala or the kids living in the dumps in Nicaragua. I am returning to Nicragua this January to participate in a medical mission trip knowing that, once again, my life will be changed by witnessing the immense amounts of poverty that other parts of the world face.
