We are so blessed! True or False? Do we give thanks for our many blessings including those we take for much for granted?

Do you know that somewhere in this world there are children, men, women young and old who do not know what it is like to have clean water, what it feels to ride in a car, to have the luxury of having clean clothes and shoes to wear, to have 3 meals a day?

I will share with you through my own experience and seen with my own eyes :The Face of Poverty:

My husband and I went on an educational mission trip to Honduras covering the communities of La Ceiba, Les Les , Cusuna,and the Garufano people, several of the poorest areas in Honduras.

We went to teach leaders of the numerous communities who came far and near. What they have learned they will share with all the people of their communities. Some of them had to walk 2 hours in the heat, and then take the bus to reach the central area where lessons are being taught. Our purpose was to in some small way, teach the people how to improve lives, given the unimaginable situation they are in. Clean water was the emphasis. We brought with us portable water filters easy and simple to use. These filters in great part came from the generosity of the members of the Holden Beach Chapel.

MY job: As a retired Microbiologist, I was to teach the importance of hygiene, sanitation, and clean water. What is in your water? How do you get sick from unclean water? How to prevent getting sick?

I made an extra effort to speak to the people in my broken Spanish, however grammatically incorrect. With this, I was able to really get close to the people and them to me.

I learned that the most common disease mostly in children is infestation with the roundworm ,Ascaris. Ascaris is a large parasitic worm that causes ascariasis in humans.

They relate to me that all of them have had encounters with the disease either as a child or as parents. They describe how they saw worms coming out of a child’s nose and mouth. Children’s carcasses swarming with this worm boring themselves out of the body.

We also visited a community of 360 families living on the edge of a dump site where garbage is all over and children are going through the garbage trying to find some leftover food. The homes are made of any scrap of material they can find. We visited a home where we can only go one person at a time, and believe it or not a family of 5 lives in this home.

Most difficult and hard to imagine is our trip to a very remote area of Honduras, Cusuna, where the Garufuna tribe still exists. We travelled 3 hours by bus on unpaved roads. We stayed in the community for a day and one night.

It was the most humbling experience: They provided us with the best accommodation they had, which was a wooden building with open windows, wooden bed, no pillows, no electricity, and running water(we had to bring our own water jug). At least we slept under a mosquito net. It was difficult to sleep at night because in the dark—we had many visitors like large rats running around and all sorts of bugs in the ground. I slept with my flip flaps on my feet, water filters as my pillow, and all that I brought under the mosquito net. In the dark when I had to go to the bathroom I stepped on several creatures. I had to make sure I made it quickly in and out of the mosquito net because there were swarms of mosquitoes ready to get inside the net.

Our special treat for lunch was the catch of the day—turtle stew with all the intestines and stomach in it.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to be part of this most humbling experience. I am grateful for the many things I take for granted. This in some small way, has touched a soft spot in your heart. Be thankful for the many blessings. Share some with those less fortunate.

Mathew 25: “For whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers you have done unto me.”

Image by shawn1 from Pixabay