“You are in our prayers.” – Pope John Paul II to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
A mission trip to another country like the Dominican Republic is a step forward in someone’s life. It is a step towards maturity, insight into another world, and the supposed universal love that exists in this world. I went to the Dominican in my last year of middle school. I was at a conservative middle school for three years of my life, and then I went to the poverty-stricken country with my former youth group. Before going to the Dominican, I never truly recognized the world around me. I had gone to church too many times to count and heard prayer requests for countries in peril, but I never knew how serious the request must have been.
I went on the trip with the intent of having a good time with friends; that this was just a simple act of kindness and that I would be home soon. I was wrong. The country was filled with heartbreak, one with women and children sitting on the sidelines waiting for a meal. Faithful people praying that the piece of tin that was their roof would not fall so that they would continue to have a home. I don’t believe our intentions and their needs are the same. I felt inside that they weren’t only looking for church groups to come and rebuild, but for some sort of a savior to rescue them as well.
We don’t want poverty or illness to exist because we are human and the sympathy for others inside us boils over and flows out through ministries. Sadly, I see many people stand still even though they have that same sympathy. I was coming back from the Dominican to Atlanta for a connection flight back to New York and I saw many people, ignorant people.
These people were ignorant and ignored even the person sitting next to them and continuously kept typing onto their laptop, only concerned about their next business plan. I look at families rushing to the next gate and people pushing others to get where they needed to go. The objects, people, and situations around us in this world seem so small compared to what we deal with in our own lives, so an opportunity to see what I saw in great extent is rare. People like to do charity, but faith and recognition may mean much more.
The youth and those that go out into other countries in times of crisis and natural disasters mean well when they do things for others, but sometimes it’s not enough. We put in so much time and effort, and we put in more before the disaster overwhelms us, but rarely do we stop to just look into the eyes of the people we are helping. I’ve talked to many people from groups and churches, and I see a common thread and it is faith. Many see the people that belong to these groups, the ones that go out and help other countries as a united front.
Usually, they are made up of celebrities or college students getting credit to their name by building a church or school and automatically becoming a saint in the eyes of the world. Shouldn’t there be more involved in the work of helping another? I believe so because I have seen it. For now, there has to be more outside of actions, because people aren’t just in need of physical healing.
One day in a poor village in the Dominican, I saw a young boy named Oganta. Many leaders from my youth group warned us beforehand about disease and to be careful, but when I saw Oganta, I had to ignore the rules. The rules meant to help but were nothing to me at this time. I placed my feet on the brown and orange dirt on the hillside of the village sinking my sneakers in and looked down at Oganta, a young boy who was striving for a smile from the girl he looked up to. I looked down, away from the soccer game in the midst of the dirt and grass field with pieces of trash mixed in where my friends and the children of the village were playing. I stared back into the deep brown eyes that controlled my attention.
A wide and clear white smile appeared on the boy’s face. He wore an orange t-shirt ripped on the sleeves with a medium brown stained pair of shorts and held a small plastic bag of bottle tops, which he was collecting. I tried to collect my thoughts, thinking of all the random pieces of vocabulary I learned in Spanish class, trying to figure out how to talk to someone I had so little in common with. I asked him his name and he spoke aloud reaching forward with his hand replying, “Oganta!” with a smile still on his face. Tears almost came to my face as I walked with him and others that were from my group to the center of the village to sit down and visit. I felt this energy from him I have never felt from any person I could have met in the airport, or even back in my own home.
We sat down and his head was on my leg. I stared down at him as one of the little girls braided my hair, laughing and feeling its texture. At that moment I let go, and felt the common thread that I saw in the people I talked to from the churches and buildings surrounding us, and that thread was prayer.
Prayer is everywhere, in almost every culture, and it gives something extra past the construction of a new village. I still pray for Oganta’s smile to be bright while I am away and hope that he has something to keep his spirits bright as well. Love was even more present, a love that no youth leader could define. Everyone one of us in this world wants to help in some way, but we seem to miss the point. You can build every building, and fix every crack, but without prayer we are nothing.
“A rocky vineyard does not need a prayer but a pickaxe.”- Native American Navajo saying
- Prayer may help heal the destruction done to the individual, but does not help build the world around them back up.
- The most destructive situation needs not one helping hand but the hand of many.
- Faith is a strong force, but the actions of a nation are stronger.
- Every situation requires more than the small amount commonly put into it.
- The thought of prayer may count, but in the end, actions speak louder than words.
