a different world

last weekend I went to Jamaica on a mission trip. The thing I noticed most was the difference in lifestyles. I've been on trips before to poverty stricken places, but the shock follows behind you every time. The houses were no more than drift wood and old tin found lying on the ground. Their homes no bigger than two bathroom stalls, are slowly rotting away.
Most women grow up thinking they have nothing else to do in life than have kids. She gets pregnant, usually before she even turns 18, starts trying to raise this family, by herself, because there's no way the fathers going to come help, he already has three other families he should be taking care of why would he help her. That would mean he'd have to take care of everyone else too.
You can just see the cycle repeating generation after generation. I just want to steal all the little ones away, before it's too late, and teach them there's more to life. It breaks my heart to know where they're going.
But then you meet people like Violet. A wonderful woman fully devoted to God and her community. She's simple, but tries so hard to teach her family that there is more. At the church services she just belts it out, "Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! Hallelujah, Praise Jesus!" over and over again. Violet glows, inside and out. She's a rock not to be moved into the stream of reality. Only to be left to disappear into sand like everyone else.
It's people like Violet that give you hope for the others. The ones who have given up on life. The one who think, "I'm done for anyway, why try?" They don't have to throw they're life away. They have a chance, but just need someone to show them.