Not Forgotten

I went down to La Cuenca yesterday with DeLynn. La Cuenca literally means "the basin" in Spanish and that's basically what it is. Located behind a new modern mall, the biggest symbol of prosperity and wealth in Heredia, lies The Basin. La Cuenca is an impoverished neighborhood made up of squatters from Nicaragua and the poorest of Costa Rica. No one actually owns the land there, but there is a huge neighborhood of tin shacks. It is down in a basin of sorts where a filthy, garbage filled stream runs through. It's not your typical stream though. It's not big enough to be a river, but it's up to 10 feet wide in some places and about 10 -12 feet deep. It's really more of a cavern where the stream doesn't fill it up except during the rainy season when it overflows and all of the trash spills out into the plaza area in the middle of the neighborhood. Many people don't have work, the average family has about 5 kids, and there seems to be no hope. Women will baby-sit for a whole day for the equivalent of $1.00. Drugs are a problem there as well. Skin diseases are common among the children because of the garbage and dirty water in the neighborhood. Many of the people are immigrants from Nicaragua (many of them illegal) and they cannot tap into the social health care resources. Those that are legal citizens do not have the money to do so. Many cannot even send their kids to school because they need money for uniforms and basic school supplies that they can't afford. Most Americans would never even dream of visiting a place like that, much less, to live in a situation like that.

But I've been there lots of times, so why do I say anything now. Well, because even in a place like that, I found hope, and people willing to help these people. Christ for the City, International is a ministry that works right in the middle of this neighborhood in the bottom of the basin. Chad and myself, both interns of Pura Vida, have helped with the Kids' Club that CFCI hosts. This is also where I have been teaching English. But the leader of CFCI is named Ronald. He is a Tico who has a tremendous heart for the people of La Cuenca and desires to do everything he can to help them. DeLynn and I spoke with him yesterday about his desires and passions for La Cuenca. He is currently one of four people that help with the Kids' Club once a week and do other things throughout the week to minister. He has all sorts of ideas, but his biggest desire and passion is to provide things that will support the people in La Cuenca and gain them the opportunity to get out of this neighborhood. He told us he wants to serve and improve their physical, economic, and spiritual health. His biggest passion that he is working on, is to provide a feeding ministry that will serve up to 1000 meals at least three times a week. He has the resources to start the ministry, and the heart for it as well, but he would not be able to sustain it just yet, and he won't start it until he knows it will be a consistent ministry. Talking with Ronald yesterday, I could see the passion in his eyes. His body seemed to ache and demonstrate the sorrow he felt for the people and the passion he has for serving everyone in La Cuenca.

I am amazed at how mighty a God we serve. God has not forgotten even these "forgotten" people who are struggling to survive. The amazing thing is that you can't see the struggle in the faces of the kids. They still have fun and still laugh. In the parents you start to see a little bit of the loss of hope. But God hasn't forgotten, and He is giving people like Ronald a heart for the people of La Cuenca, so that no one is forgotten. Because God has put people like Ronald in La Cuenca, I know that God will be faithful to provide whatever resources they need.