The Old Man and Woman

While in Fort Portal, Idah told us about an old man and his wife that were extremely poor and living in extreme poverty conditions. Apparently, several people on the team had met the couple (Paul and Teresa) the previous year. Although they are on the GFR waiting list, the situation was desperate so we decided to bless them with many of things that they were lacking. We bought a foam mattress, sheets, plates, bowls, cups, 3 pots, serving dishes, washing tubs, soap, 2 tarps, rice, sugar, and 2 loaves of bread…all for $115 US dollars. Since it was getting dark and began to rain, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and went to bed. The hotel was nice. It had running water which was a plus! As I laid in bed and listened to the rain, I thought of the old man and his wife sleeping on the ground in their mud hut…and how their life is so different than mine.
The next morning, we arrived at Paul and Teresa’s home. Since it had rained the night before, the trail to their home was quite muddy. They have a mud house that was literally falling apart…the door had even fallen off. If I had to guess, the home was about 10’x6’. There was enough room for a twin bed and a tiny sitting area/storage on the other side. The team members that had met them last year said that it appeared that they were wearing the same clothes as last year.
You cannot imagine their expression when we came walking up with all of that stuff! We laid out a tarp and piled all of the supplies on top and they just sat there in amazement. They felt like it was a blessing from God that had dropped out of the sky and I suppose it was.
We handed Paul (78 yrs old) a mirror so that he could look at his face. He could not believe that it was himself. He said he had not seen himself in a mirror for 14 years! He kept touching his face because he couldn’t believe how his hair had turned gray and he had wrinkles. . I gave Paul my hat. He put it on and looked at himself in the mirror and was quite proud…he was a character!

Teresa (she doesn’t remember how old she is) was very shy and did not want to see herself but we eventually got her to look. She turned away embarrassed and laughing…it was very cute. To think that they have seen each other all of these years but had no idea what they themselves looked like
Before we left, we gave them the loaves of bread, he said that hadn’t eaten bread in 5 years! It was a wonderful way to start the day.