Poverty and Thankfulness

Poverty - we saw a lot of it on this trip.
There was an entire neighborhood of houses made out of sticks/straw.

Families just barely getting by - like this one.

The government has helped a little by building tiny homes for 50 families in this town (these houses are not pictured). It's hard to explain what these government homes looked like...they were really shacks. They had enormous holes above the ceilings where the walls meet the roof. The people had to fight for bathrooms to be built in the homes. Meanwhile, there are another 150 families who applied but were not helped with housing at all at this point. They live in homes like this one below.

The front "gate" in front of a property

Despite the poverty though, it is amazing to see how creativity and hope still survive. I think this is pictured well in the picture below.

Did you see the "basketball hoop"? Did you notice it is made out of rubber from a bike tire? :)

Here I sit in my comfortable living room writing this using my laptop. Sure, maybe our home is no where close to the type of home we might have if we lived in the States, but it's safe and my pantry and fridge are full of food. I have a bathroom in the next room :) As one team member so simply, yet so deeply stated, maybe we should all complain a little less and be a little more thankful....so true. That's the truth we've been wrestling with putting into action in our lives lately.

When you stop to think and take a second to look around, there truly is SO much to be thankful for, isn't there?