Friday ~ At the Leper Colony

The Leper Colony is a sight to see!  It looks like any other huge neighborhood; houses, streets, stores, a school and clinics.  The only difference is the houses are really shacks made out of scrap metal or mud and straw and they are on right next to each other.  The streets are made out of rubble, rocks and dirt.  The stores are tiny little rooms crammed full of almost anything.  The school is dilapidated and the school uniforms (which are required for every student) are literally falling off the children.  The clinics are small and full of people. Our first stop in the Leper Colony was the Christian Church, which is about 20 x 30.  The walls are made up blue tarps and the roof is made of pieces of scrap metal.  There are benches and plastic chairs for the church members to sit on and the dirt floor is partly covered by pieces of a canvas type material.  We met the Pastor and other Church Leaders who were so excited for us to be here with them!  After the initial greetings and prayers it was off to work.  We had wheat and coal to separate, Children's Health Kits to organize and candy to pass out to the children and adults.  When the wheat and coal were in family size bags, we were off to deliver them. It really is something when you can hand a bag of food to a woman who, along with her children, is hungry.  To know that you have just given her enough food (20 kg) to last for 10 days . . . but to understand that she will make it last longer so her children won't go hungry.  To see the gratitude on her face is a sight we will never forget. We visited and delivered wheat, salt and coal to 34 families in the colony . . . and countless pieces of candy to oodles of children and adults.  To walk through the small doorways and meet the people literally where they live was very humbling.  They have practically nothing, compared to us, but they are so excited to see us and have us in their homes.  To experience this type of hospitality in such a place is awe inspiring. After visiting the families in the Leper Colony, we were off to lunch . . . Andreas favorite pizza joint . .  Metro Pizza! More to come . . .   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!