You hear your Father get up before much is moving in your village. Cautious not to wake your sisters whom you share a bed with, you simply watch him search around for those same pair of shorts he always wears when he goes to work. The years he has spent fishing in the unrelenting sun has left his skin so dark that it’s difficult to see him in your windowless room. You see his thin body slide through the sheet that is the door, the sound of him picking up his bucket of sardines, and his light footsteps that have about 4 kilometers of walking until he reaches his favorite fishing spot. You love your Father and hope he has a good day.
Life was easier for your Father just 8 months ago. Instead of taking his bucket of sardines, which also possesses his spool of line and a hook, your father would grab his fishing net. You learned very quickly that a fishing net meant your Father can earn money and provide fish for supper. Today, you just hope it’s one of the two. But you’ll be ready to try and sell what he brings back though not too many people are buying from you these days. Does everyone’s Father only earn $1.00- $2.00 a day?
Your Mom gets up a few minutes after her husband leaves. You hear her cracking kindling to make a small fire on the pit behind the house. She mixes a few coffee grounds into some water and waits for it to boil. She takes a few bites of some left over rice and black beans before walking back inside to wake up your sisters. It’s time for school. There was a time when your Mom sat in a school desk with a pencil in hand, but it was short-lived and sudden. Your desires to be read to are lost in the fact that you have no books and a mother who cannot read or write. While your neighbors believe she makes poor decisions for your family, you love her regardless because she is the one who brought you into this world and also the one who can take you out of it.
The curtain rises up again and the fragile presence of your Mother enters the room. Though weak in so many ways, the strength of her hands and arms surprises you as she shakes the mattress your sharing with your Sisters. It’s time for them to go to school and for you to help Mom by fetching some water. You look up to your 14 and 13 year old Sisters but also secretly envy them as they put on their nice blue and white uniforms and march off to school. There they receive breakfast and lunch, but more importantly an opportunity to learn. While there grades are not great, they read, write, sing new songs they heard at school in English, and want to tell you about some place with cute animals called Australia. They are the only educated people in your family. When they return you feel normal again. Seeing it’s too hot to play, you all pile back onto the mattress and try and steal a nap before Mom comes calling with an errand.
The nap was a short one due to incoming storm and its cracking lightning and thunder. As you all sit up, you and your sisters notice your quietly funny 16 year old Brother packing a few things into a bag. It’s time for him to leave for your Aunts house 5 kilometers away. You wonder about the long and wet walk he has infront of him as the drops begin to hit the tin roof that covers this cement shelter. Like your Sisters, your Brother studied at the school last year. However, after finishing a year where he was literally a man among children in his 1st grade class, your Mom pulled him out of school to help family attend a farm that is owned by a rich family in Cartagena. For his hard work he is fed and housed but not paid. Your Dad explains that when we was in school “he couldn’t learn” which sounds more like a verdict than a problem. So equipped with his machete, small bag of clothes, beautiful heart, and a grim reality that he will have little opportunity to control his destiny, he fittingly sets off out into the pouring rain
Your very timid Father calls out to you from behind the house. He has returned with eight catfish looking minnows that are no longer than 8 inches. It’s been a rough day and while small and of low quality, they can be deep fried or used in soups. So you take the bucket and slightly grudgingly set off to visit the neighbors. Less than 20 minutes you are back with all eight and a small list of why people didn’t want them today. Mom and your 16 year old sister take the fish and begin making preparations to fry it. You don’t mind because though you have this meal close to 5 times a week, rice and fried fish is one of your favorites.
Slightly later in the evening your 20 year sister comes back from working in the corner store. She slept in that morning and snuck away while you were running an errand for your Mom. Tired after finishing up a 12 hour day in a very busy store, she eats the portion your sisters set aside for her. Soft spoken and quietly beautiful, your sister changes clothes and soon begins to share an interesting story from the day. If you only understood the story that changed everything for her. When she was younger, a pastor in your village told your Mom she should pull your older sister and your brother out of school, because it was run by Catholic Nuns. Though possessing religious undertones like almost every school in Colombia, the pastor feared they were force feeding these children Catholism. However, though he never removed his own children from this institution, he insisted to the other church members to do so themselves. Your Mom, already unable to see the value of education, willingly agreed thus ending your oldest sister’s educational opportunity. Though the Nun’s pleaded with your Mom, the decision was made and in that moment your Sister began to walk the path of the woman who made you both. So now she works long hours everyday and for her hard work that translates into an 80 hour weeks, she is paid $50 per month. Some money goes to help buy food, some clothes, and some to herself because even though the path has been laid out for her, there is still a passion in her heart to become something more.
You my dearest little girl are 10 years old and possess a smile that lights up a room and an energy that is stronger than a coffee bean. You love to play hopscotch in the dirt outside your home and possess a passion for paper, rock, scissors that at times make someone in particular regret teaching it to you. Your favorite food was rice until you were introduced to the beauty of Froot Loops! The laugh you made when you discovered the toy inside the box would be a moment no one would forget. Though like many people here in Colombia, you are not the kindest to animals, this is washed clean in someone’s eyes by the beautiful heart you possess. You are a ray of sunshine in an often dark and gloomy room. You will break this cycle because there is something about you that I don’t think even your Mother can keep hidden away. You will break this cycle because you must for yourself and everyone else. Every good story must have a happy ending…promise me this!
I am changed.
This is not about making your feel guilty but making you aware. I am not sharing an experience that someone else has had in West Africa. No, I am sharing an experience that your friend, colleague, student, nephew, cousin, brother, or son has just had in Colombia. If you read this blog you probably know me very personally so please hear my cry for help. Look at your beautiful children and think about the precious little girl that has rocked my world! The same sweet smiles but very different worlds! We are a blessed nation and its time we stand up and believe we can make a difference.
I wrote this blog in a secular manner because the billions of people who live in desperate poverty is a huge problem. While I have my beliefs about why each human’s heart cries when we think about struggling children, in this moment I will not make that case but instead just ask you to do what you feel you should do. And know that you can do so much with an caring heart. What is it saying this minute?
To the many Christians who read my blog, I have lovingly just made you responsible. Let those who have ears to hear, let them hear. The God we worship loves this precious little family greater than I could ever have in all my lifetime. But He uses us as His hands and feet. The glory goes to Him, as this family will have a new fishing net in November. We learned a few things about financial management and finding Mom a temporary job helped as well. The Father is learning how to read and it’s actually going very well. We practice with a book that shares the Bible in a simple manner. He has taken it upon himself to share these stories with his children after each lesson and I am hopeful he can teach his illiterate family to read as well! The struggling fisherman has come to love the Lord with all His heart, soul, and mind. While I know the storms will certainly continue, it gives me such amazing peace to know this house has been built on the rock that is the Lord! I ask you to start in prayer. Pray for the lost, poor, orphaned, widowed and voiceless. Ask how you can help? And then listen…faithfully! What does He whisper in your ear?
To Elfrien, Margalisa, Carmen, Luis, Linei, Inoria, and precious little Dayana…I give you my love, prayers, and thoughts! You will be missed!
Eric
