Mission Trip Mussings

Now that we have been back a few days I wanted to blog just a little more about our life changing trip to Louisiana.

Houma, LA is a community quite different then ours. For starters, the average family there makes about $14,000 less then the average family in the Oostburg area. When I think of trying to cut our family budget down $14,000 to the level they make in Houma it makes me want to cry. I don't know how we'd ever do it. Houma also had a very have and have not feel to it. There were certainly many new glitzy homes that have sprung up since the hurricanes (it was hit by both Katrina and then it's already stressed levees overwhelmed by Rita), likely those who had good insurance and strong savings accounts. They stand relatively close to many homes that are in sad shape. While many of these, such as the home my crew worked on, are good on the inside they are lacking on the outside. Those without means are also still not prepared for another Hurricane. The house I worked on is built about 3-4 feet off the ground, but to do any renovations to it the house would have to be raised 10 feet off the ground. Talk about massive expense. That places a family in a tough situation. You want to improve your house, but can't because you can't afford to raise it. You do want to raise it to be safe AND to be able to renovate, but it's simply out of reach financially.

Oh, and did I mention the economy in the area has been hard hit as its traditional fishing centered industry has fallen due to competition from overseas producers who can charge way less for seafood? With the economy weak many have taken to illegal activities to stay afloat, with drug dealing and prostitution fairly wide spread. Fortunately there is a fantastic ministry called Hope Extreme that is doing a great job battling the drug trade and trying to protect children from being lured into it. This shows that there are some great people in Houma trying to make it a better place again. To further show you the degree of poverty we encountered one girl in the day camp we assisted at told us she had not eaten in 2 days. Tough stuff for teens from our area to encounter.

If we got even just one thing out of this trip it was that their are a ton of people at need in this world and God is calling on us all to tend to them with love and humility. One of our goals as a ministry is to be much more aware of the needs in our own area and strive diligently to meet them in Christian love.

If you would like to learn more about some what is going on in Houma check out these two great non-profit groups we worked with: www.hopeextreme.org and www.bayougrace.org.