I wrote the following poem a while back after seeing these ladies carrying the wood they had gathered in the forest. I am always amazed at what some of the people here have to go through to just exist and my heart weeps for them.
A poem by Pam Higgins
What I’ve Seen
Oh what my eyes have seen
Oh what my ears have heard
At the depths of your need
My heart weeps and my soul stirs
I have seen you walking on the road
With wood and sticks on your back
Women of every age, carrying the load
So you can cook in your humble home
Do you go home to a house made of sticks?
Or is it made of scraps of tin and wood?
Is the grass roof set atop walls of mud bricks?
Or is your only shelter, a simple tent?
Do you have enough food in your belly?
Do you have enough water to drink?
Are you living life day to day?
Because tomorrow you might just sink?
Do your children go to school?
Or do they work, just like you?
To find wood, water and food?
Because to survive, they must work too.
I see your need and I weep
Because what can I do?
I am only one person,
I can’t help all of you.
But Jesus has given me a vision
Of something I can do
With education and training
Of showing you life anew.
With a hand up, not a handout
To restore the land of your ancestors
To make it prosper again, in time
And provide you with open doors
To teach you how to treat the land
The land that God has given
To be the caretaker of his creation
Just like in the Garden of Eden
God will bless the efforts
Of restoring the land, you will see
It will change so many things.
And provide your needs abundantly
This is not a one person task
Everyone needs to get involved
To change even one life
Is a great gift, after all.
There is a need for many partners
I know God will provide
The hands and feet of workers
And the necessary provision
Oh what His kingdom will be like
When it is time He comes again,
But until then we must care for
both the Earth and our neighbors.
Oh what my eyes have seen
Oh what my ears have heard
At the depths of great need
My heart weeps and my soul stirs
Does yours???
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