We are in the Dominican Republic for a month.  We used miles to get here and found a 1 bedroom condo for a very reasonable rate. We are enjoying time with each other and friends but we are also doing some work 3-4 days a week in villages and barrios.  We work with the children in one school. We help with the feeding program at another village and we will soon give fluoride treatments at the school and the barrio.  On Sunday, we go to a church that is English speaking and that has people from all around the world who happen to be in the Dominican for awhile along with those who live here.

It is a good place to be and it is good to be able to go to the sites and, unlike a mission trip, return here for a shower, a meal, a bed, a beautiful view.

 Here is the view from our condo.

Here is the view from the village huts.

I struggle with the difference and how I am a part of that difference. 

 Last week, we served the people in the village.  They receive one bowl of the soup you see below and 1 glass of water that can be refilled once.

When we came back that day, we had a meal with as much water as we wanted. I had a glass of wine. Joe had some ice cream.

The inequity of it all has been something I have wrestled with since I was a child.  That little girl in that little apartment in the city never thought she would go the places she has gone.  But she finds herself here now and the grandma she is now feels the same as the child she once was.

There is a difference though.  I have seen it first hand and I absolutely cannot deny the incredible lack of balance that exists in this world.  I don't know how to reconcile it.  It makes me wonder if it is right for me to even do this again.  I want to but I also am painfully aware of how little I do and how much I am a part of this inequity.

I am not asking for any response.  I am simply sharing my head and heart struggles.  It is so easy to rationalize it all.  I get that.  I DO that. It is how we human beings cope BUT, the fact of the matter is, there is such profound poverty and I have stood in the midst of that poverty and then I have walked away.

So, once again, I meander so that others see and hear and ponder, if only for a moment.....

...because, I believe that little guy right there is yours, mine and ours.