Joy Through Service!
Today started off a bit more slowly. Both Willie and I have appointments with different people. I'm going to be meeting up with Pablo Lavador. He is the over all director of the Girasoles programme. We have a forty minute car ride into the centre of Lima but first Willie has to stop off to pick up his shoes from the cobblers. Willie explains how Peru is a great place to get things repaired. So if your shoes need repaired why pay forty pounds at home when you can get them fixed for five pounds. We stop off at the shop in the small town of Chaclacayo where Paul Clark lives. A lady is sweeping the dust into the street from her shop. It could be Bo'ness outside Brian's Cafe. Makes you think the same characters are in every town the world over.
Before long I meet Pablo, he welcomes me with a genuine smile. He is the man who takes the responsibilty for the safe running of the five homes which Union Biblica at present run. Four of these homes are virtually funded by the Vine Trust. I'm anxious to hear about the new plans relating to the restructuring of the Street Boys Programme in Iquitos. Pablo explains the circumstances surrounding the closure of the day centre. Much of this has been brought about by the demise of the Rickshaw Project. Basically the influx of cheap Chinese rickshaws offered to drivers at very low rates has meant that no one wants to hire the rickshaws anymore. It is more profitable to take a Chinese Rickshaw on a hire purchase agreement. The point was that the profit from the motorised rickshaws paid for the programme.
These are some of the issues facing Pablo and his team. He had decided to return to a more basic programme of connecting with abandoned boys and offering a much reduced service using his existing budget. He moves on to explain how fortunate he has been in the directors of each home. The twice a year training programme for the directors paid for by the Vine Trust has proved to be a great success. We talk about how we can continue to add value to his service. In all this was an opportunity for me to ask questions and to express to Pablo our thanks as a trust for all he and his staff are achieving.
I turn round and Lewis Malca is in the building. Be has come to take us to China Town for lunch.
Walking through this part of Lima we stop and state at a brick in the road with Marty and Paul Clark's name in it. Apparently this was a gimmick to raise funds to brick the road. Willie suggests that this might be an idea I adopt to raise the funds for our proposed refurbishment of St Andrew's Bo'ness. We finally reach our restaurant. The food was quite magnificent. Willie is still raving about the duck he had for lunch as we make our way through the streets of Lima in Lewis's huge Jeep. I take a photo. It says it all.
We live in a world of have and have nots. We can stay in our air conditioned machines and ignore the struggling pain of the poor as they try to sell us their trinkets, or we can engage with our world and become changemakers by our example and lifestyle.
So does this mean we give up the things we love and live more frugal lives? Perhaps? But one thing I do know God has given us life to enjoy to the full. I'm discovering the more we serve the more we enjoy.
Go on tell me what do you think?
Posted By: Helmut On: 4 Apr 2009 At: 9:28am
I wholeheartedly agree with Gordon!
Living more frugal (and this is Germany I am thinking of…) surely will do us some good. Mind you, frugal, not spartan.
The homeless keep telling me that it always is the people with less to go around that give to them more freely.