Birthday Challenge Update

I wrote a blog about a month and a half ago regarding my granddaughter's birthday wish to raise $50 in the 50 days preceding her sixth birthday.  She didn't want the money for herself; she wanted to send toys, clothes, food, and clean water to the children in Nicaragua. 

How would she know at the age of five that children in Nicaragua have needs?  Her parents have led short-term mission trips for years, and she's seen lots of photos of Haitian, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan children in dirty, well-worn clothes, usually provided by mission-minded church congregations in the U.S.  Children in third-world countries have to grow up quickly in order to survive.  Life is hard.  Their homes don't have inside plumbing or running water.  Rivers, springs, and communal wells, often contaminated, provide their only sources of water.  Often the job of carrying heavy containers of water for long distances falls to the children.    

Village houses are usually made from scrap wood, cardboard, and sticks.  Entire families may live in one room, sleeping on pallets laid on dirt floors.  There are no glass windows.  Thatch roofs are flimsy protection from rain and wind.  Sometimes young children are raising their siblings because their parents have either died or abandoned them.  

Our granddaughter raised the $50 she wished for (and much more) through the generosity of people in the community, her church, family, school friends, and even people on the Internet she may never meet.  Someone even graciously provided airfare so that she and her family could personally take her gifts to the children in Nicaragua.  While there, they were able to share God's love by painting and making needed repairs to the village school, having an Easter egg hunt for the children, distributing clothing and toys, and feeding over 250 villagers.  My grandchildren shared many of their own toys with the village children.  I am so proud of them for their unselfishness.

This was a trip of a lifetime for our son and his family.  The photographs chronicling their week are priceless.  One can clearly see how the love of God in the hearts of His children can break down the barriers of age, language, culture, and race.  When that happens, it is a beautiful thing!   I wonder, what would life be like if children ruled the world?


Matthew 19:13: "Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)

 

Copyright 2012 Charlotte Laney