Socioeconomic Study

         There it was in black and white.  Simple printed words on a government form, a form used to collect information on the living situation of the mother;s who bring their children to the nutrition center.  Simple words that took my breath away. 

Family Composition.   Name,   Age.   Relationship to Mother.   School?          

         ……followed by 12 blanks.   Twelve blanks to fill with the names of the children who are starving, slowly dying in the tiny villages in the mountains of Honduras.   Twelve blanks that show that young children are no longer in school, but out of necessity are working.   Twelve blanks to show the number of people living together in two room homes with dirt floors, no water, and not enough resources.

         Holy God, when we complain of budget cuts in the United States we acknowledge that there is pain;   people may go without opportunities for education, without access to health care, without adequate housing, without reliable transportation.   But in Honduras it is different.   Help us to remember, loving God, that in parts of the world budget cuts mean slow death for poor people, especially for children.

Does the mother work outside the home?   If so, with whom does she leave the children?

         The seven and eight year old girls care for the toddlers.   The mothers who work in the masqueraders, the sweatshops can’t afford to pay for childcare, so they lock their children alone in the house all day, or leave them to wander the streets, begging for food.   Ana, a 16 year old, works full time for us in our home in exchange for housing, food and a chance for education.   The prostitutes that each night line Centro , many with the AIDS virus, work doing the only thing they can find to do to support their families.  

         God of the Children, help us to be aware of the injustices in the world, of the difficult choices that those who are most oppressed must make.   Keep us from being judgmental about the choices made by the people whose oppression we are a part of.  

House Construction.   Is the floor made of dirt, clay, cement or wood?   The walls of straw, paper, cardboard, sticks and mud, adobe, cement, clay or stone?   Is the roof made of straw, wood, tin, asbestos, or cloth?  

         Most of the children of the nutrition center arrive with diseases which are the result of their living conditions.   Parasite, lice, scabies, lung infections, colds, malaria, diarrhea and sores that won’t heal.   Their hair has changed colors from lack of iron and vitamins, their eyes are flat and listless, their complexions pale.  

         God of Justice,   help us to accept responsibility for these children, children who live in places we wouldn't be caught dead, children who watch their parents watch them die, children whose monsters are real.  

Kitchen?   Yes or No?   Wood burning adobe oven or stove?   Do you burn wood, charcoal, gas, or other substances?

         The women come with chronic coughs.   Many children suffer with asthma.   Years of living in poorly ventilated, smoke filled rooms take their toll.   The day we taught the children at the nutrition center to jump rope many of them became breathless more quickly than I.  

God of the Oppressed, help us not to forget the powerless victims.   Help us especially to remember the women and the children.  

Is water available?

         What!? The questions swim over me, challenging me, overwhelming me.   How can I think we can make a difference here?  

Is it at a town pump, a river, a lake, a stream, a faucet outside the house, or a faucet inside the house?   Do you boil your water? 

How do you dispose of your garbage?   Do you burn it?   Do you bury it?Do you throw it in the street?   Do you put it in a separate place?   Do you have garbage service?  

How do you dispose of excrement?   Outside?   In a latrine?   In a toilet? Do you have crops?   Do you have animals?

           The tasks for which the women are responsible are mind numbing.   Many women can’t come to the nutrition center with their malnourished children.   They are needed in their homes to do the never-ending work of cooking, cleaning, feeding, hauling water, burning garbage, washing laundry, feeding chickens, tending the garden.   Many are at the mercy of abusive husbands, men who depend on their wives for these tasks, men the women and children depend on for money to survive.

Holy God…….I don’t even know what to pray…….  

Family Salary.   From the Father.   From the Mother.   From the Children.     

         There it is in black and white.   Simple printed words.   But, to put it in black and white is to make it the norm, not an exception.   For thousands, and thousands of families in the villages and pueblos in the mountains of Honduras, daily life consists of eking out a living in circumstances where there is never enough.

         God of Families, help me not to make this norm become normal.   Continue to allow it to overwhelm me, to challenge me in my privilege, to encourage me in my service.   Help me to remember the vision of your realm,   a realm of justice where healthcare and childcare and soul care really matter, where we spend money on healing rather than killing, where people don’t have to beg for money because everyone already has enough, where people don’t have to protest and shout, because they are already heard,   where people don’t act crazy and abuse the ones they have promised to love because the world is no longer crazy.   Amen.