Giving to the Least of These

My time here in Manila has been extremely thought provoking and world changing.  I feel as though my way of thinking has been greatly altered due to the poverty, disease, hunger, and dirtiness I see around me everyday.  Greater than all of these though is the joy that the people have.  Each day as I walk to school, swarms of children gather around my fellow teachers and I just to hold our hands, tell us their names and say hello.  The language barrier doesn't seem to matter when it comes to showing love to the little children.  Their tiny hands, covered in dirt, slip into mine and walk with me until I have to stop or go father than they can go.  They say goodbye with huge smiles and waves that show just how much those moments of walking meant to them.  The smallest things bring these kids the most joy.

This afternoon, I saw one of the most heart wrenching sights that made me reassess myself and my life.  I came back to the mission compound where we are staying and saw some of my fellow teachers gathered in the dining area.  I walked to where they were and saw a small boy sitting in a chair with three or four people gathered around him.  As I watched, I learned that this first grader, Alexander, had been sitting in his big brother's class at the end of the school day waiting to go home.  He had been full of energy and lit up the room with his bouncy personality.  After a little while he complained that he was hungry and settled down in a chair.  The teacher in the room said that he got quiet and looked very tired.  Within moments he became very weak and unresponsive.  

The teacher was a girl on my missions team.  She went to the boy and realized that he was not only tired but extremely sick.  She carried his limp body from the school back to our compound and asked for help immediately.  The women in charge of the kitchen made him some rice and got him water, but Alex was not awake enough to eat or drink almost anything.  Thankfully there is a group of Australians staying on the compound with us and one happened to be a nurse.  She came and assessed Alex and recommended he be taken to the hospital immediately.  God blessed Alex with an available driver on the compound and he was rushed there immediately.  

Those of us watching, unable to help in any way, realized just how helpless we as humans can really be.  We can think good thoughts and wish we could just wake Alex up so he would be his usual bubbly self, but it doesn't do any good.  In that moment, watching the van drive away with little Alex in tow, we were keenly aware of just how much we needed God on our side.  We gathered in prayer and lifted up Alex in his little body to the Lord.  

Soon afterward, a woman came to give us more information on Alex's life.  He is one of ten children in his family with several older brothers.  Two of them were hanging on the gate to the compound begging to know if Alexander was going to be okay and want to know what was wrong with their little brother.  We were also told that when Alex was younger he had a stomach tumor removed that had developed due to a lack of food and nutrition.  Alex was a fighter and we could only pray that he would pull through again this time. 

In addition to Alex going to the hospital, two other girls from the Cuatro community were able to go.  They had been waiting for an opportunity.  Even in the most dire of circumstances, God was able to show his divine power and timing.

Later in the evening we were told that Alex was up and doing incredibly well.  On the way to the hospital, the Australian nurse was monitoring his heart rate and said it dropped to extremely low levels.  However, while still in transit, Alex perked up and began responding to touch and voice more.  By the time he arrived at the hospital, Alex was so conscious that he didn't need an IV.  The doctors said his blood sugar had dropped very low, so they gave him some bread and hot chocolate to spike it back up.  On the way home, Alex was treated to fast food which he ate all of gladly.  

I think the part of this story that touched me the most was hearing that earlier in the day Alex had been given some food that he then gave away to another child who needed it too.  Alex, who has nine siblings to share food with and doesn't receive enough food on a daily basis, gave away the food he could have eaten to another child in need.  If that isn't showing Jesus to the least of these, I don't know what is.