the top ten things I learned in ghana - 2

maybe i'm not as well off as i think 

In Ghana the people are suffering from a poverty of the basic needs.  I expected the people to be living about how I saw the people in Ecuador living.  Maybe I've forgotten, but it seemed so much worse.  The woman, Bernice, we were following for our documentary worked hours and hours to bring home a few dollars a day for her large family. 


It was heart breaking and reality shaking.  


But Bernice is rich in some things that I don't have.


Humility. Patience. Kindness. Charity. 


Humility because she listens.  She so easily trusts other people.  She trusts God.  She has faith in Him because she knows for a fact that she could never take care of her family on her own.  She has no temptation in thinking that maybe she could do away with Him.  


Patience because she waits.  I never heard her complain because the food took too long to prepare or be delivered.  She never got annoyed when she was waiting for someone. When I finished what I needed, she'd say, "Okay.  Let's go."


Kindness because she looks after others.  She never could have children of her own. Her husband had died twelve years ago.  She had taken in more than eight foster children. How few in this privileged country would take on even one?


Charity because she gives when she has nothing. 


C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity said, "Charity-giving to the poor- is an essential part of Christian morality...I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.  I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.  In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.  If our charities do no at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.  There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them." (Lewis, C. S. "Mere Christianity." The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2007. 76-77. Print.)


When we went to the market one day she bought me and a friend of mine some yogurt and a pastry.  She had so many mouths to feed with so little money, and yet she honestly gave the widow's mite so we could have a treat we didn't need.


Charity isn't just giving my extra clothes to my little sister. 


Charity is the ability to make life more meaningful for others.


So what poverty are you suffering from?