I knew that one thing I would have to grapple with upon my return to the USA was an inward look at what it means to live in a country where most of the people would qualify as the wealthiest 5% of people in the world. I knew that spending these weeks getting to know beautiful people who are truly living in poverty would cause me to think about my life and why I have so much when there are many who have so little. Well, I did think about this a lot while here, and I felt like I had “made peace with it”- understanding that I am truly blessed and, because of those blessings, I have a responsibility to give back to those less fortunate. I thought I was good- that was until today.

Today, I went on one last trip to bring food to those in need. I have done this a few times during my stay here and, while it really opened my eyes to the poverty around me, I also have always felt that the people would be OK. Somehow the poverty felt survivable, because the people were hungry but not starving. Their lives were extremely hard, but they were going to survive. Today was different.

Imagine walking into the 21th century version of the play “Oliver Twist.” Reading this in school was one of my first introductions to the Great Depression, and the idea that, during that era, people were begging and starving and dying. It shocked me. Well, today I saw the real life Oliver Twist.

Today, the food was being delivered to a different neighborhood about 20 minutes from my Peru home. As we traveled there, I watched the poor houses get poorer and poorer until “homes” became a few tarps strung together between a few poles. I saw huge mounds of molding trash with people digging through it and eating the scraps they found. I saw people quite literally dying on the streets. I was shocked and that was just the car ride there.

We arrived at the food distribution location, and there were over 50 people, at least 30 kids, waiting for food. We had not anticipated nearly this many people, so we did not have much to go around. Fortunately, we were able to give each family a bag of flour and rice for their meals. Then, we opened all the cracker and candy packages and gave each person 2 crackers and 5 M and M like candies. Yes- so little and you would have thought that I had given them food for months- they were just so appreciative. How? How can you be so appreciative of my meager handout, especially when you know that I am going home to abundance in comparison? I don’t know, but I am telling you, these were some of the nicest people.

I got back in the car and thought about the watermelon that I was planning to throw away, because it was just too ripe for me. I thought about how I have been frustrated with how much rice I get served here. I thought about how I wish that I could take all the food I waste and keep these kids from starving.

Yes- today bothered me… today was poverty at its worst, and it rocked me to my core. Today I felt greedy and that is not an emotion that I am used to feeling. So, no, I am not leaving anymore having “made peace”with the extreme disparity in our world. No, this one is going to take me much longer to sort out in my mind.

**No photos from this experience so here are a few from my last day at school