After 3 months, I'm finally starting to see first hand the realities of a place like Mt. Sinaí, an invasion community that is only 9 years old. There are beautiful realities of relationship, compassion, family, and faith-- but there are also realities of poverty, of abuse and child labor.
One afternoon I went with my co-worker, Olinda, to her neighborhood to turn in some paperwork. We visited a friend of hers, and as I gave her a kiss on the cheek, I saw her eye was filled with blood. As I sat there, she told Olinda, with tears streaming down her face, about how the night before her husband had too much to drink and hit her for the first time. Olinda got on the phone and began calling friends to accompany this woman to file a report. We walked away silently, and Olinda and I exchanged few words about what had just happened. This was the first time I really thought about the realities of Mt. Sinaí, what happens behind closed doors that I don't see every day.
I have made a friend in Mt. Sinaí, a 15 year old boy, who can usually be found driving a snowcone cart in the afternoon down the main road. I've run into him a few times on his bike, and we've had some really eye-opening conversations about his life as a working-boy. His family moved here 3 or 4 months ago, and are working to pay off the land. In the morning he sells eggs on the street to cars that are waiting at lights, and in the afternoon he drives the cart until it's all gone. He breaks briefly for lunch, and doesn't sleep more than 5 or 6 hours every night. His older brother also works for his dad, and his mom and younger siblings stay home. This boy isn't in school, although he should be in 10th grade. He says that he wants to start when the new school year begins, but I worry that it won't happen. What's interesting about this boy is that this information came out in the first 20 minutes of ever talking to him... he just let it all spill. It's not something unusual here, that a 15 year old and a 17 year old aren't in school because they have to work for their family. It's just a part of life, "asi es la vida" (so is life).
The reason I bring up these two stories is because these aren't necessarily unusual... they are a reality for people here. Husbands hit their wives, kids are working instead of studying (or being kids for that matter). Now I don't want to be unfair and say this is happens everyday, or to everyone, just that it does happen and there isn't much of a system to correct it. These are some things that have started to come to the surface for me as I spend more time in Sinai, and I am sure I will continue to struggle with it. Please keep all of these people in your prayers!
One afternoon I went with my co-worker, Olinda, to her neighborhood to turn in some paperwork. We visited a friend of hers, and as I gave her a kiss on the cheek, I saw her eye was filled with blood. As I sat there, she told Olinda, with tears streaming down her face, about how the night before her husband had too much to drink and hit her for the first time. Olinda got on the phone and began calling friends to accompany this woman to file a report. We walked away silently, and Olinda and I exchanged few words about what had just happened. This was the first time I really thought about the realities of Mt. Sinaí, what happens behind closed doors that I don't see every day.
I have made a friend in Mt. Sinaí, a 15 year old boy, who can usually be found driving a snowcone cart in the afternoon down the main road. I've run into him a few times on his bike, and we've had some really eye-opening conversations about his life as a working-boy. His family moved here 3 or 4 months ago, and are working to pay off the land. In the morning he sells eggs on the street to cars that are waiting at lights, and in the afternoon he drives the cart until it's all gone. He breaks briefly for lunch, and doesn't sleep more than 5 or 6 hours every night. His older brother also works for his dad, and his mom and younger siblings stay home. This boy isn't in school, although he should be in 10th grade. He says that he wants to start when the new school year begins, but I worry that it won't happen. What's interesting about this boy is that this information came out in the first 20 minutes of ever talking to him... he just let it all spill. It's not something unusual here, that a 15 year old and a 17 year old aren't in school because they have to work for their family. It's just a part of life, "asi es la vida" (so is life).
The reason I bring up these two stories is because these aren't necessarily unusual... they are a reality for people here. Husbands hit their wives, kids are working instead of studying (or being kids for that matter). Now I don't want to be unfair and say this is happens everyday, or to everyone, just that it does happen and there isn't much of a system to correct it. These are some things that have started to come to the surface for me as I spend more time in Sinai, and I am sure I will continue to struggle with it. Please keep all of these people in your prayers!
