If you could take away one problem…

Our English Club at work

For English Club this week we led an activity in which students had to answer a hypothetical question first as an individual and then as part of a group.  One of the questions we asked was “If you could take away one problem, what would it be?” The group answers were especially striking to us as we compared them with recent news from the States.  We thought it a nice opportunity to compare some of the cultural challenges of our two countries:

Group 1: “We would take away the problem of drugs.”
We hear a lot of news about the opioid epidemic in the states.  We hear news of children being born with defects, families decimated, employers not being able to find employees who can pass a drug test, and entire communities being destroyed by this problem.  And that’s just one of the kinds of drugs the US struggles with.  It certainly would be wonderful to see this problem go away.

We were a little surprised to hear the students pose this as a problem because, although there are some drug users here in the islands, it is certainly not at epidemic levels.  But the students pointed to the numerous young men who, because of drug use, had fallen into mental illness.  It’s well known that drug use can cause or be a catalyst for mental illness and it’s true that there are a number of young men who wander the streets of our city talking to themselves and looking generally disheveled.  Since there is no help or aid given for mental illness on the islands, families have little choice but to let their mentally ill family members wander the streets.  We’ve heard reports that in some cases the mentally ill are even locked in a room or chained in their house.  So while not an epidemic, no more drugs among islanders would certainly be a good thing.

Beautiful Island Sunset on Tuesday

Group 2: “We would take away the problem of unpaid salaries.”
On the islands, salaries often go unpaid.  The government is notorious for failing to pay salaries.  Sometimes government employees like teachers will go as many as 6 to nine months without pay!  We still do not know if this is because of budget mismanagement, corruption or political reason (most likely a mixture of all three), but it is a constant problem on the islands.  So much so that islanders have multiple ways to cope and make do.  They have family members, they have farms, shops sell on credit until the government finally pays. 

This problem was one that, in the past, we would have said people in the States would not understand.  Imagine, the government not paying it’s workers!  Imagine people continuing to do their job without being paid.  It would never happen!  People wouldn’t stand for it.  Yet, as of writing this blog, the US government has been shuttered for 30 days.  Not only is this unprecedented, but we wonder about how people are making ends meet.  Islanders have large networks of people they can lend money from and this is a normal part of community life.  They are used to making things stretch.  They have ways of getting around things when the salary doesn’t come in that month.  But do US workers have these networks?  Doubtful. 

Unpaid salaries—it’s a big problem.  It would be nice to see it go away.

Group 3:  “We would take away the problem of hatred.”
Group 3 was thinking big.  “There is so much war in this world.  So many people hate other people.  Even in our islands, people from one island hate people from the other island.”  It’s true.  Other students added that even from town to town there can be grudges and hatred that go back generations.  Hatred is a horrible thing.

And here again, we thought that our own country would do well to be rid of such a problem.  Hatred certainly has become more prevalent in recent years.  There seems to be so little reaching across the table, so little listening and giving the other the benefit of the doubt.  What does seem to grow is insults, dehumanizing and hatred.  Will it ever stop?  If we could only take away hatred…

Our daughter in karate gear

Sometimes the islands and the States seem worlds away, but then sometimes we see that we aren’t so different after all.  Drugs, unpaid salaries, hatred.  Yeah, I’d like those problems to go away too.   Wouldn’t you?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The women’s time of prayer and fasting went well.  May we see the results of this faithfulness in weeks ahead.  Megan has had some great birthday dates with all the kids.  The kids have gotten their grades back for the last trimester at the French school.  They all did well.  We continue to thank the Lord for their good experiences at local school as well as homeschool.  We are thankful that some rains have come to help break the unbearable heat we experience during this time of year.  Our good friend Ma Imani (who has been on the big island for 1.5 years now) came to our island for a short visit, it was encouraging to talk to her. She told a story about praying for and seeing deliverance for her young daughter (2 years) after each child in their household was effected by some dark spiritual presence. She was boldly telling us and the others with her about the power of prayer and of the good news.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
A number of our island brothers and sisters have been participating in some training about dealing with trauma and persecution.  We hope this will be beneficial and a chance for them to go deeper together.  Our friends in another organization are still struggling with some difficult team problems.  Continue to pray that there will be resolution and reconciliation.  Pray for our countries. That the only one who can really take away these problems of drugs, salaries, and hatred will step in and change hearts and bring life out of death.