The weight of poverty

Today I spent 2 hours walking around the island of Nkombo, with some visitors from Kigali. Nkombo magnifies all the problems of Rwanda : overpopulation, soil erosion and poor agricultural practice, inadequate housing, limited education and health care, poor hygiene for the children. There is no electricity or running water on the island, which has nearly 20,000 inhabitants. Without fishing, people would be starving. There are children in rags everywhere.
Nkombo is not unique by any means : several of the parishes in the diocese are similar in the standard of living. However, it was one of those days when the extent and depth of poverty here weighed heavily on me, as it sometimes does.

The Message gives Romans 12:8 as “if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated by them or depressed by them.” It’s good advice, but can be hard to follow. Two things help : the usual cheerfulness and friendliness of Rwandans even in desperate poverty and the evidence everywhere that faith in God is strong and a real help in hardship.