An interesting encounter with poverty...

I (Danaya) had an interesting encounter with poverty over the last two days, and I'm still not sure how I feel. Yesterday, as I was making dinner in my kitchen, a Mayan lady with her baby walked up my driveway and came directly to my kitchen window.

I opened the window to talk with her, and she asked me if I had any work for her. She said she is very poor, her husband doesn't provide for her, and her baby is very sick and needs medicine. And so, could I provide her with some work -- washing dishes, washing laundry, whatever. I was taken aback, and not sure how to proceed.

I know in the eyes of poor Mayans I am very rich. And I know that being rich can make me a target for crime, such as theft, kidnapping, or worse. My immediate thought was for this poor woman, who was so desperate for money that she was going door to door looking for work. But my following thought was for the safety of my family -- was this woman trying to find out about me and the contents of my house so that she or someone else could rob me? Could she be on drugs? Was she being used by organized crime to find nice houses to rob? How would I know, since I am a new foreigner here???

As I quickly put my thoughts together, my compassion won out. I decided that Christ calls me to act with love and compassion first, above all else, but to also be wise. I decided that paying her for a bit of work, and putting her to the test wouldn't hurt, but I would not just give her a cash handout for other things she was asking for. I gave her two tetra-packs of milk, and told her to return in the morning for some work.

When she returned this morning we sent her on some grocery shopping errands. We are not comfortable having a stranger work in our home, but groceries and laundry can be done outside the home. Before she went, I fed her some breakfast, and that is when the questions started popping into my and Dave's heads. She didn't seem to be very hungry, she didn't seem to feed her baby carefully or cleanly, she left food and a cloth all over the floor, left the bathroom disheveled, did not respect our space or privacy, and after she had left I found a dirty diaper out on the lawn (meaning that she can afford disposable diapers). Her behavior seemed very strange. She has enough education to speak Spanish well and read, but absolutely no manners or cleanliness. Hmmm... things were not adding up.

After much prayer and discussion, we decided we were not comfortable having her around our house. Possibly she could return for a few more grocery errands in a couple weeks.

She did return from the market with all my requests, as well as accurate change. I was a little surprised. She had moments of great helpful keenness. She left Dave and me feeling so confused. I sent her off with two hours of pay and a small bag of produce and milk, making no commitments for further work prospects.

Later today I asked one of my local friends about the situation. Right away my friend knew who the lady was. Apparently my friend and others have helped her many times, but have found her to be untrustworthy over time. The lady is apparently not willing to make positive changes to get a job and help herself. The observation of my friend is that this woman continues to choose not to use the community resources available to her, and instead roams around pleading for help.

What am I left to think of all this? When do you decide to help, and when do you decide that something is a black hole? How much information is necessary to know about a person first? What is my responsibility as a Christian? What is my responsibility as a "rich" Canadian gringa? Our whole philosophy here is to provide a "hand up," not just a "hand out," but how that gets played out is not so clear cut.

There is a quote by Henri Nouwen that inspired Dave and me to enter this adventure: "We are often afraid to enter into the chaos surrounding situations of poverty, and we will remain paralyzed unless we dare to take new risks. If we need to have all our bases covered before we move into action, then nothing exciting ever happens, but if we dare to take a few crazy risks because God asks us to do so, many doors that we didn't know existed open before us." How should I apply this quote to a story like I just described? All I know is that the answer exists in shades of complicated grey....