I have a story about a Peruvian girl. This past week, the girl´s father died of a disease that was slowly taking him down. He had been staying in a more remote jungle town down river, with some family down there. When this girl was informed of his death, she immediately got on a boat and headed to help bury him. Little did she know how much she would help.
The family was poor and did not have enough money to pay for the things that we would consider to make a proper funeral. And if they did not have the money right then, there was nothing they could do. There isn´t exactly credit cards and ATM machines in a town that has no electricity. And I´m guessing there wasn´t a funeral home, either, to come and take care of the body. They were the ones to prepare his body, which was stiff and difficult to manipulate. They had no coffin, so they used wood from the side of their house to make one. By the way, the house only has (had) four walls. Not a "3 bed, 1.5 bath" type of house, but just a dirt floor, some wood for walls and a thatched roof. They found a spot in a sandy area and dug a big hole and buried him.
Hearing this story made me think of how blessed my life is, even when dealing with death. If a loved one of mine dies, I won´t have to clean up the body and try to fight its stiffness; I won´t have to tear down a side of my house--part of my little protection from the elements--to quickly put together a coffin-like box; I won´t have to dig a hole myself, place the body and cover it up, trying to figure out a way to mark the site that will soon be overgrown. If I were to die down here, my body would probably get shipped back to the States, and I would be given a beautiful funeral with a sealed coffin and a plot in a cemetary.
I know this blog is very depressing, but it has been something on my mind alot, lately. We usually have happy blogs, but here is one that touches on part of a sad reality down here. Just something for us all to consider. We should all be thankful for how blessed we are, even in death. Anyone who is reading this is blessed, because if they have means of reading this, they most likely will have the resources (money, credit cards, friends or family) to have a "proper" funeral. And for a final thought, this story is the story of one of ours here and the deceased is someone we knew.
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1 comment:
Death is apart of life yet we truly are un-aware here in the U.S.A.,of the impact Emotionally that touches other countries whom struggle so deeply just to care for their loved ones even in death. The longer you're there the more you will be able to share with us here where the needs are greater, and where we can help even more. Thank you for sharing with us Aaron!! I'm grateful for the realness you and Kelly share with us your family. Truly we are blessed and yet may we be moved to be used also as God leads! Our Prayers and hearts go out to this family in the loss of this father.
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