Life's Hard

I wrote that title not because I consider my life to be hard... I know how unbelievably blessed I am in so many ways. Anything that might be for a moment considered as a "problem" in my life pales instantly in comparison to the problems of those people that we see around us constantly. God continuously reminds me of His mighty grace... It is by His grace alone that I have a relationship with Him, that I have the incredible family that are such gifts to me, that I have any of the material things that He has given me, that I was able to get a college education, that I was born in a country that provides limitless opportunities for me, etc, etc. It is not because I deserve any of those things any more than many of the people who live in this country who have very hard lives.

Just an example of difficult situations that I would have never come across back home happened this week. Our helper, Annie, came in to work and was very upset because a family member had passed away that morning. The more she explained things, the more I realized that I didn't even have a frame of reference for the kind of situation that the death of a loved one brings here.

At home, when someone passes away, the immediate family usually gets a few days off work to grieve, take care of the details of the funeral, and to be comforted by family and friends. Here, Annie and her husband had to call an ambulance to come take him to the hospital to get a death certificate (that costs money), the ambulance brings the body back to the home of the family and the family members have to prepare the body in the home (there are no funeral homes), then they have to transport the body to it's resting place (that also costs money), and they have to show up for work the same day because jobs are so hard to come by that they can't risk losing their job. All of the extended family has to chip in to help pay for these costs as well, so it doesn't just affect the immediate family. It is a financial burden on top of the grief and sorrow that they face. I know grieving the death of a loved one knows no culture- it is horrible and sorrowful no matter where you live, but it was just another example of how hard life can be for people here. Hard-working, loving people who are just like me or you but just happen to have a LOT less, which can make things in life very very difficult. It was a humbling lesson for me this week.