Thoughts in Boucan Patriot

We finally arrived at Boucan after our off-road excursion just a bit behind schedule. As a result, clinics and Bible studies were postposed until the following day. This village was quite a bit more established in that, this is where Living Water Ministries has their clinic set up. And instead of the church and school being combined as they were in Petit, they were two completely seperate buildings. As in the other villages, malnutrition was again a big concern. There was one patient who was only in her 40's but due to severe malnutriton she could barely walk nor did she have the energy to carry her frail body from the clinic to the bench outside the clinic on which she laid down. Of all the cases that we saw in that particular village this is the one that really has stuck with me because it started raising some new questions and concerns.Perhaps it is part of my take charge personality, but when I see a problem posed, possible solutions begin racing faster than I can even process them. Ok, so the children that attend the schools supported by ministries, such as Living Water Ministires, at least receive one meal per day during the school week. And throught supporting ministries like this we can at least addresses the threat of child malnutrition but what of the adults, like this young woman for example? How can a similar program be formed to reach those that are being forgotten? If ministries like this one can increase their funding, would branching out their meal program even be an option? Or even a priority? I think if we do not address this issue we are doing a great disservice because is it not this neglected generation also the ones who are raising up the children. We can teach children a lot in schools but what about their home lives where they spend a good majority of their time? Children tend to follow the path of their parents whether they are aware of it or not. The following story which various people have shared with me over the past couple years happens to be a prime example of this very trend.

There was a little girl who always loved to help her mom cook dinner at night. This little girl always watched her mother cook the roast but each time before her mother put the roast in the dish, she always cut off the last three inches of it and threw it in the trash. This was peculiar to the little girl and finally she asked her mom why she always did that. The mom was perplexed and did not have an answer for her young daughter other than, that was the way her mom always made the roast. Finally unable to come up with a logical explaination, the little girl's mom called her mother to find out why she had always cut the end of the roast in such a way when she had been growing up. Again there was no rhyme or reason as to why she too had been doing this same cut and disposing of what was seemingly good meat other than it was what her mother did. Then one afternoon the all of the ladies were gathered, the little girl, her mother, her grandmother, and this time her great-grandmother was there as well. When the question was posed by the little girl's grandmother to her own mom, the girl's great-grandmother responsed with, "...I cut it because the pan was not big enough to fit the whole roast."

It is a simple story that really does have a lot of truth to it. Often children follow blindly in their parents footsteps without even questioning because that's all they have ever known. I agree that feeding and educating the children needs to come first but I think that feeding and ministering the rest of the village should be a close second. Do they not also need to have Christ's love shared with them? And if you can perhaps begin instilling these values with the older generations all the subsequent ones might grow even stronger having seen those they look up to be converted from the culturally accepted practice of Voodoo to that of Christianity. And statistically speaking, Voodoo would be weeded out even quicker than if we were to wait for the children to get to this point to start the conversion. All I am trying to say is that I think something needs to be done to reach those being overlooked. Believe me the brainstorming does not stop here.

Note* The photo on the right is that of the young woman mentioned above and the effect that the malnutrition has had on her lower extremities.

I saw some of the sweetest interactions between mothers and there children here in Boucan Patriot. The photo of this particular mom and her daughter is one that always inspires a smile knowing that there some bonds that are cross-cultural, such as the bond a mother has with her children.