It's Serious

We've had a lot of fun on this trip. We've laughed and joked a lot and had so much fun with the kids. But there are some very serious problems here in South Africa and last Saturday we saw them firsthand, up close and in person. We took a trip to the cemetary and we visited some local villages and the dump.

The top photo above is a picture of the dump. People live there. It absolutely the most horrific thing I can imagine seeing (other than maybe war). You can't see any people in the photo, but at times there are children sitting amongst the garbage and the fires and some of them do not have any parents or family. The people there sort through all the trash saving the plastic they find and selling it to the recyclers for money. They eat the edible garbage they find and they feed it to their children. If you bring water, food, or money and give it to the children, the adults will steal it. If you are a child there, you probably have only a very small chance of surviving unless you are rescued by a social worker and even then it's not guaranteed. Half of the adults here in Welkom have HIV, that means roughly half of the children if not more, do too. It's horrible. The adults are dying by the dozens every day and leaving the children with no parents, no home, no food. And many of the children are very sick as well. Once their parents die, they are often passed off to another family member who may also be ill or very likely to abuse them. It's such a sad situation. I was very disturbed by what I saw at the dump and it was difficult to comprehend how people could live that way. I'm having a very tough time understanding why so many people here live in such poverty while in America we are throwing food away left and right and wasting so much money on things that are not necessary. I know the world is always going to have poor people and I can't stop the spread of HIV here, but I really wish there was a solution to these problems. It's so unfair to the children.

When I get home, I'll tell you about some of the children here and their backstory. When I show you their current photographs you won't believe it's the same child. The Niehoff's and the O'Tools have used their service to God to provide these children with childhoods grander than they could have ever imagined. It's pretty amazing stuff. I'm definitly inspired.