Caraballo

Alright, well, this weekend i went to visit one of the other ministry sights, Caraballo, and it was one of the most interesting experience. i decided to just put in my journal entry about the place, since it'll be easier. sorry it's long, i tried to put in a lot of pictures to help it along. : )

"Caraballo was a completely different experience. Here's what's going on: basically, in the middle of hundreds of acres of sugar cane are the completely forgotten workers in their shacks by the river. Definitely the most poverty I've seen here, horrible living conditions, absolutely no control over sexual immorality, (getting raped is normal, women have many different children from different men, no one's married, family units are non-existent), and it's all ruled over by a disgusting witch doctor who uses his power to get what he wants out of everyone - mainly the women. Heavy stuff. And then, Kids' Alive and another ministry called Crossways came in and set up a school, clinic, closer-to-decent housing, and a church across the river. You can imagine the resistance they had in the beginning from the witch doctor, but freeing people from lives of fear and worthlessness is a big deal, and now they're well-established. So it's going well, and it was neat to see. Clearly God can conquer and do His work in whatever place he deems ready. Praise Him!

Before we left, we crossed the river into the witch doctor's village, where many people still live. It was definitely a solemn experience. The living was even more disgusting, and in the midst of it was the witch doctor's 'temple.' It was only a shack itself, but harrowing because of the heavy feeling of wickedness, darkness, and evil there. (we didn't go very near it) There was no doubt in my mind that the missionaries are contending with a great evil there." (This next part is an interesting story, bear with me) "Now, the van we were driving won't start unless it's moving, so we always have to push it to get it going. But this time we continued to push it through the entire village, and though we tried it many times, it would not start. There were no other cars to jump it with for miles around, and I wasn´t sure what we were going to do......until, on our last try, we pushed it over the bridge and out of the witch doctor´s village.......where it promptly started. Coincidence? Only God knows. One thing's sure - I was praying a lot! But there is a good side to seeing the evil in this world: despite the churning in my stomach, and the fear i felt in the people's lives, I was not afraid. Those people live in fear, but I could walk through that village - being the witch doctor's most hated opponent - and not fear a thing. What I really felt in that village was God's power.

So, I am sitting here thinking of and remembering the amazing, powerful, strong, incomparable, almost-unbelievable LOVE of Jesus for me, for us, for Caraballo, the world. That's why I'm here. People in this world live without hope; and though they lack many other physical needs, it is hope that we're sent to bring them. Because when you have hope, you can go without anything. I have this great hope, and many blessings besides! Surely, when I am down, it is this hope, this great love, that I can cling to, remember. And then all I need to do is watch as He buoys up my heart on a joyful wave, to face another day and take this hope to another empty soul."

Thanks, have a great week. ~Allison




Here's the Caraballo project: the green building is the school, the blue one is the church. The small one on the left is a fair-trade organization that takes things that the women make and sells them for good prices in The States. -->