What if nature
staged a disaster and no one showed up to help?
The enormity
of Katrina coupled with a delayed response by the local
and state government and FEMA have led to sharp
criticism. And while much of that criticism may be
deserved, at least there was a government response to
this tragedy.
Not so in
other, less fortunate parts of the world.
Last month I
spent 11 days in the Andes Mountains in Peru with a
group of 24 Americans. We had traveled there to assist
the Quechua Evangelistic Association in its work of
spreading the Gospel through the Callejon de Huaylas in
conjunction with missionaries affiliated with the
Wycliffe Language Institute in Huaraz.
On the second
to the last day of our 6-day trek through the Cordillera
Negra, we walked into a village named Canchirao. We
immediately realized that something wasn’t right. It was
almost harvest time in this part of the Andes. But
instead of finding neatly cultivated hillsides brimming
with the golden kernels of ripening wheat, the village
was a veritable dust bowl.
The people
were suffering from the ravages of a localized drought
that had caused their crops to fail. They were starving.
Some were sick. And the government had ignored the
impassioned pleas for help from the village’s leaders.
For the people
living in the impoverished parts of the world, every-day
life is itself a struggle. They face disease, starvation
and death. And then on top of this, they often must
contend with natural disasters.
We, on the
other hand, fret over our blessings. It is as if they
have become curses, in fulfillment of the prophet
Malachi’s warning that God would “curse [the]
blessings,” of a people who failed to acknowledge God’s
hand in human affairs.
While we
complain about the price of gasoline, this assumes
ownership of a car; a luxury in much of the world. When
a light bulb blows, we fume over having to walk
downstairs to get a replacement from the garage instead
of being thankful for electricity.
We have
allowed a spirit of entitlement to control much our
thinking. This spirit is not something relegated to the
welfare community. It has become largely unconscious,
affecting the wealthiest among us.
The people of
Canchirao know nothing of entitlement. They were
literally left to starve to death. Imagine their
surprise when 25 strangers from a foreign country showed
up in their village with sacks of food and a wad of cash
to send more relief in the days ahead. Talk about a
modern-day miracle.
The story
didn’t end when we walked out of their village in
August. Shortly after arriving home in the States, I
learned that one of the Quechua evangelists who has a
weekly radio program broadcast out of Huaraz shared this
story with his radio audience.
The following
morning an old Quechua man showed up at the gate outside
the Wycliffe campus with a sack of wheat and a bag of
used clothing for the people of Canchirao.
“His humble
circumstances were readily noticeable,” explains Ade
Yanac’s wife, Rachel, both of whom serve as Wycliffe
missionaries in Huaraz. “His threadbare pants were held
up by a piece of string instead of a belt.”
This was only
the beginning of a larger relief effort as more
donations started pouring in.
“Quechuas from
more than a dozen villages brought wheat to be ground
into flour, corn, beans, and clothes for the children.
Spanish-speaking friends from our city heard the story
and donated money to buy sugar and other basic food
staples. By the time Ade and the guys left for their
four-day trip this past Tuesday, they had so many sacks
of food for Canchirao that there wasn’t room for all of
it in our pickup. They had to send several bags on a
farm truck that was crossing the mountains and could
drop off the load in a nearby village.”
In one sense,
this is similar to the response from many Americans,
moved by compassion to open their hearts and their
wallets to give donations to organizations like The Red
Cross to help with the huge relief effort going on now
in the Gulf Coast.
And I couldn’t
help but note at least one relieved Louisianan shouting,
“Thank you Jesus!” as the convoy of trucks finally
poured into his flooded city.
But I am left
to wonder as I contemplate the days ahead, when most
assuredly politicians will pile on with their biting
criticisms of the various governments’ failures if, in
fact, we are missing the bigger picture.
Instead of
endless sniping, wouldn’t it be better if we, as a
nation, focused on giving thanks for what we have?
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