We can all make a difference

byLouiseBT

8.4K followers

Updated 5 years ago

Every single one of us has the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others - a simple thing is to freeze bottles of water (in hot climates of course) and keep them in your car for the homeless. One of the boys, now a young man, I know from a children's home I volunteer with, blogged about living on the streets and searching the trash for water, water! - he was a very small boy at that time. Those words hit me hard! How simple is it to carry a bottle of water and hand it to a homeless person.

In South Africa we have men and women of all ages working in an informal recycling sector. They pull and push makeshift trolleys by foot for many miles, come rain or shine. They eek a living this way, but it's better than a life of crime. In my opinion, these are some of the hardest working folk in our communities, it's a rough life and physically grueling. Not only do they push and pull heavily laden trolleys, they spend nights in neighborhoods, sleeping on their trolleys, waiting for the local residents to put out their bins on collection day. In crime ridden Johannesburg, this is a dangerous occupation!

Many households now separate their refuse, recycling in separate bags for collection. Many do not, so our industrious recycling entrepreneurs dig in filthy bins to retrieve their "gold". So not only is their work physically grueling, dangerous and for little reward, it is also unhygienic.

These amazing people do an incredible service to society, they are saving the planet, contributing in the most incredible way, working hard to feed their families rather than rely on the government, and for very little - very little financial reward and certainly no status or recognition from the very people they serve.

I have selected one such young man, who viewed me with much suspicion initially. I keep my cleaned, separated recycling for him, feed him what I have, freeze a big bottle of water for him and a juice if I can. We are developing a cautiously caring relationship. He's a rough diamond, I may have reason to fear him. He is also a hardworking, solid young man, appearing every Thursday religiously, who deserves a hand up from whoever can offer it. He looks out for me, but never takes it for granted that I come bearing "gifts". He thanks me shyly, sometimes gruffly, but always with appreciation.

I am not sharing this to showcase my "goodness", trust me, I am no saint! I am sharing to encourage you to find your "one"

It's the starfish principle, I make a difference to that one. If you don't know the story - someone is walking on the beach one day and notices hundreds upon thousands of starfish have beached themselves. This person begins throwing them back into the ocean one by one. Someone else comes along and tells this person that it's fruitless because so many are beached and dying. As another starfish is tossed ii to the ocean the reply is "it's made a difference to that one".

I encourage you, fellow WA colleagues, keep an eye out for "that one". Your calling may be only to men, or women, or children, or maybe not people at all, maybe you have a heart for animals, domestic or wild, marine life, plants ... Whatever it is, we all care about something, that something is our calling. Honor your calling, its quite incredible how helping others becomes a blessing to you, the "giver".