Hangin' In The Slums

Welcome to our little neighborhood slum! Conveniently it is located just around the corner from us making it easy to visit frequently (that is when the weather cooperates).

This area is made up of shanty like homes all situated very close to one another. Many homes that we have seen in our walks have very minimal material possessions (or they can hide their things really well).

From what we have learned about this area is that the land where these people are living is not their land and at any time the government can come and tear down their homes. It is not just a place of squatters so to speak but for some it is a place of transition, as they have moved down from the mountains and are looking for work.

We try to go at least once a week and as we walk through pray for the people we meet. Many do not speak English, or at best very basic English, so we use a lot of gestures or just let them Ooh and Aah over Rylee. We walk till we hit a small rickety bridge, it is here we first met two sisters, "Kitty" and "Ai" (pictured above), Kitty is the same age as Rylee and Ai is probably around 5. These two have stolen my heart and I think and pray for them often. The first day we met them we played in the dirt with Kitty, and Ai made a make shift slide out of beat up old road barrier, she just loved to hold Rylee's hand and pick her up and carry her everywhere. 

While Rylee and I do our thing, Sevio plays with the boys on the soccer pitch, a concrete slab about the length of half a basketball court but a third of the width, and forget netted goals...here they use tires! At first I thought to score you had to get it through the hole of the tire and told Sevio that after playing here he was going to have an amazing shot back in Canada... but I was wrong, just hitting the tire is sufficient enough, sorry Canada he'll have to stick to defense :P

So far this area is one of my favourite places to serve, its simple, its fun, its real. I love seeing these kids joy amidst their obvious poor circumstances, I love praying for a hope and future for them, and I love that they love us just for coming to play with them! I look forward to many more afternoons spent here getting to know them more!