Identify with the Developing World (June 28, 2000)

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We have been back in The States for almost a month, and have been busy shopping, getting our personal affairs from two years past and for the next few years in order, presenting our ministry, visiting friends and family, and trying to find some time for recreation.

 

Becky’s Uncle Bob, who visited us in Honduras last fall shared something with me that I thought would help you identify with the poor mountain folks we serve in Honduras.  Here it is:

 

 

STEPS WESTERNERS WOULD NEED TO TAKE TO TRULY IDENTIFY WITH THE DEVELOPNG WORLD

 

“First, take out the furniture; leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair.  You never had a bed, remember?

 

Second, throw out your clothes.  Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse.  The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.

 

Third, all kitchen appliances have vanished.  Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful of onions, a dish of dried beans.  Rescue the moldy potatoes from the garbage can; those are tonight’s meal.

 

Fourth, dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and lights and everything that runs by electricity.

 

Fifth, take away the house and move the family into the tool shed.

 

Sixth, no more postman, fireman, government services.  The two-room classroom school is three miles away, but only two of your seven children attend anyway, and they walk.

 

Seventh, throw out your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies.  You now have a cash hoard of $5.

 

Eighth, get out and start cultivating your three acres.  Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops because your landlord wants one third and your moneylender 10 percent.

 

Ninth, find some way for your children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days.  But it won’t be enough to keep bodies healthy—sp lop off 25 to 30 years of your life.”

 

From LEADRESHIP magazine, summer 1988:81, quoted by Calvin Miller in his book “Into the Depths of God”, p 39, in a chapter entitled Breaking the Thrall of Materialism.

 

 

Dave Drozek with,

 

Thoughts “about” Honduras

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