I don't want to make you feel guilty but I do want to make you feel

The more I learn, the more stories I hear, the more people I get to know, the more I see poverty everywhere I turn, I realise the World is a messed up place. I could recount stories that would make you cry, would make you feel sick or make you speechless. Stories of people I have met here who have lived such hard lives. I can’t explain why they have had to live in such suffering and poverty. I read a blog entry today that summed up some of why I am here. Below are some extracts from the blog. (To read it all click here)

“We cannot imagine a better world without acting. We cannot merely dream of the solution; we must be the solution. I believe in hope — that there is purpose to pain and reason for suffering.

No, I do not think we can understand or explain away the tragedies in our lives.

But I believe that even these things shall pass. I believe in Something More.

And this hope motivates my art and compels me to act.

It invites me to not turn a blind eye to the pain the world, but to usher in the promise of a better future now. To announce a season of life and hope where death and despair once reigned.

We have a responsibility

To open our mouths. To move, to speak, to act.

It begins now. People are waiting. To find hope and experience life to the full. Maybe for the first time.

I don’t know what this means for you. But I hope it means that you’ll think twice before turning on the television tonight and slipping into a coma of self-indulgence.

I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty, but I do want to make you feel.”

His phrase “I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty, but I do want to make you feel“ sums up some of my journey here. I want to share what I am learning, seeing and feeling. I want you to realise how much you have, or realise that you are not alone in your sufferings. I want you to see something of a completely different culture and country through what I share with you. Maybe it will make you realise there is a bigger World out there to just all that you know and see. I don’t want to make you feel guilty. That is not a healthy feeling. I just want to make you feel. As a result maybe you might feel lead to working abroad, or giving a bit of money to the work of a charity or supporting the charity in Ecuador with children with disabilities or helping the abused women. Maybe you want to pray. “We have a responsibility. To open our mouths. To move, to speak, to act.”