Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Village Discharge


Discharging one of our little “charges” back to the village is one of the most hopeful and heartbreaking parts of our mission. Most of our babies, like most Malawians, will eventually (literally) have a hard row (of maize) to hoe.

A VILLAGE DISCHARGE

How to walk among wild places?
TAKE
only pictures
LEAVE
only footprints.

How to walk among the poor?
TAKING
(even pictures)
seems questionable.
LEAVING
(only footprints)
seems miserly.

YET WE TAKE
gratitude and hospitality,
(perhaps even a chicken or a bag of ground nuts or a bowl of nsima)
and pictures, of course.
WE LEAVE
a small bundle of hope
and
another mouth to feed. 
                                                    
                                              Paul Heller 

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8 & 9.

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