You can change the world for someone

On the 5th of April this year very heavy and unseasonal rain fell on the desert coast of Peru.  It's quite rare for it to rain here in Lima and the surrounding area at all so when it rained heavily it was very strange.  It didn't rain in the city at all but just 20km inland from Lima it rained for days. For some this rain would have been a welcome relief from the choking dust and arid climate of the coastal desert but for the people of the town of Chosica it was a disaster. The rain caused an avalanche of several thousand tons of rock and mud to pour down the hillsides above the town onto a poor area of Chosica, destroying everything in its path: houses, schools and shops. That day many people lost not only their homes but also their livelihoods.

When the children of San Andres heard about what happened they wanted to help in any way they could those who had lost everything. So they collected clothes, blankets and money and with the help of a contact in a christian school in Chosica, a small group of secondary pupils made the journey up the steep, rocky hillsides to the town and gave their gifts to these families.  They also arranged to buy and install 4 wooden houses which will provide replacement accommodation for families who have lost their homes.


Although I wasn't there, I know how much this small act of kindness and love will mean to these people because, sadly, during my stay here in Lima I have seen so many living in equal poverty. Sometimes I think it's impossible to change the world, enable children to go to school to learn, help those who are starving because of lack of food or dying because of dirty water or lack of health care and the idea that the work is impossible for me to do is a convenient excuse for doing nothing or a reason for being depressed about the state our world is in.  But the other day I read somewhere that "one person cannot change the world, but you can change the world for one person". Small acts of kindness and mercy like those of the San Andres pupils shows that this is so true. Too often I am tempted to think that to be a blessing and a help to those in great need I have to give money I don't have but giving shoes to a child who has none, a Bible to someone who can't afford to buy one, a blanket to a mother of newborn or your time to listen to the heartbreak of those who have no one to talk is enough to change the world for that person because they know that someone cares about them and sometimes that is just what they need to know. Poverty is only bound to this earth and we are reminded in the Bible that it is only a passing thing but our attitudes to it show whether we too are bound to this earth or whether we take our example from the one who said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

    for yours is the kingdom of God. 

²¹ 

Blessed are you who hunger now,

    for you will be satisfied. 

Blessed are you who weep now,

    for you will laugh."