Lessons From the Dump

Today is Wednesday. The day we feed at the dump. Today, it was just Marc and I. We got Pamela, Fitto, and Brayan to help us make the sandwiches, then we loaded the car and headed to the dump. Unfortunately, not much has changed there. Buzzards, dogs, cattle, and people are still fighting through the same garbage. Since there was just Marc and I, we had to do things a bit differently today. I handed out sandwiches from the truck and Marc handed out the bananas. When the bananas were gone, Marc started pouring the water.

I was standing in the truck handing sandwiches to starving, filthy people. I was having to bend over to get each sandwich. I was literally just putting a sandwich into a hand. I hate that. I really like to look into the faces of the people. I was able to see and speak to a few people, but mostly all I saw was hands. Everyone waited patiently.

After Marc finished with the bananas, he was pouring the water and asked me for the rest of the cups. The rest of the cups had been taken from the truck. People at the dump are always so thirsty. The ones that had cups drank and drank. As they finished, they threw their cups on the ground. I saw many other scramble for those discarded cups and get in line for water. A few began to even get the used sandwich bags and have Marc fill those with water. It made me so sad to think that people would get any used container off the ground in the dump in order to have a drink of water.

One man walked up shortly after the last of the sandwiches were gone. He started to turn and walk away, when another man graciously shared his sandwich. A man who was probably literally starving to death shared what little he had. And I, who have never known hunger, don't even like to share my cashews. Would I share a little bit of food when I was truly hungry with another who was truly hungry. I hope so. I hope so. I hope I don't ever have to find out.

Terri