This is the time of year when the local stores’ candy shelves are over-flowing
with goodies of all sizes, shapes, and colors.
You probably think the above pictures are of our trick-or-treat stash.
After all, it’s this weekend that children will be knocking on doors
in neighborhoods around the country,
expecting to fill their bags or sometimes even pillowcases
with a multitude of treats.
Actually the candies shown above were used to fill paper-towel rolls cut in half,
wrapped with tissue paper, and tied with simple blue ribbon.
They were prepared by a friend of mine whose husband went on a mission trip to Haiti
shortly before the earthquake hit that country last year.
This summer, my friends Karl and Kim decided to purchase enough candy to send to 800 children
who attend the mission school where Karl served while on the mission trip.
When they contacted the school about sending the treats,
they learned that enrollment had swelled to 1300 students!
A tent city of earthquake victims had been set up near them,
and an extra 500 refugee children are now attending the school.
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You will have to shift gears mentally to picture the candy being distributed in Haiti –
8 little candies per roll –
as contrasted with the abundance of trick-or-treat sweets that will flow out the doors
of homes in our country on October 31.
Each of the 1300 children at the school will be given one roll.
In America, a child would probably gobble up the eight candies before the bell rings to end recess!!
Kim tells me that at the school in Haiti,
each child will take the roll of candy home and share the 8 little pieces with family members.
Food is hard to come by in Haiti; hunger is a way of life.
The children are fed a nutritious meal at school every day.
Once a week, the school bakes bread and tries to send a loaf home with each child.
The daily school lunch may be the only wholesome meal a child gets all day.
With food prices extremely high, many mothers resort to mud cookies to fill the stomachs of their hungry children.
Yes, that’s right, mud cookies –
When I was a little girl playing under the big oak tree in our back yard,
I made mud pies to “pretend feed” to my dolls!
Now, Haitian mothers – desperate to calm the hunger pains of their children –
make cookies from a recipe of yellow dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening.
The dirt is trucked in from the central plateau region of Haiti.
The women buy the dirt, mix it with water, and strain out the rocks and clumps.
Then they mix in salt and shortening and spread the cookies out in the hot sun to “bake.”
This yellow dirt is also used to stretch other recipes when there are not enough ingredients for a family meal.
If you want to read more about the process of making the mud cookies,
you can go to this NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article.
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There are people far away and people as close as our own county who are poor and hungry.
During the upcoming holiday season, we will have many opportunities to help the needy among us.
Let us be generous with what God has given us and share with those in need –
but let us make this a practice every day, not just a “holiday tradition”!
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“And the King will tell them,
‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,
you were doing it to Me!’…
“And He will answer,
‘I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters,
you were refusing to help Me.’”
Matthew 25:40, 45
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