Yesterday morning, I volunteered to participate in food giving at a local soup kitchen in Atlanta. Feeding the poor and eliminating poverty are very close to my heart. I don't know why. I guess my heart strings are often pulled when people tell me they are hungry. The event went well. It was a spiritually nourishing event. On my way there I kept wondering why I chose to attend this event of all events. Maybe because I am African so I have seen poverty and what it can do to people. Every actor that visits Africa comes back with that mindset. You see people in America feeding to the bountiful, overindulging in life, food everything. And then, people over there, are literally starving. How do you correlate the two worlds?
We prayed before we fed them, with them and amongst ourselves. All I can say is, they feed the poor here very well. There were large size cakes being cut into eigths to serve them as dessert. I know we don't feed the poor that well in my country. The sad part is in between all these needy hungry folk I could tell some of them snuck in there to be fed, why I really cannot tell you. I even glanced one of them using their cell phone.
The experience is a humbling experience to anyone. It just helps you put your life in perspective. For people like me who hardly have a chance to appreciate the goodness they have, this was a chance for me, to stop and think, and thank God I was not in that position. My mum asked me if I did it just because I was asking God for a special favor. Not neccessarily. I just needed to see what the pther side is like, and to not feel so guilty for what I have. It just helps to put things in perspective. I hope that some day when my ship comes in I may be able to open up a food bank of my own. But for now, I will try, (try as in I had to beg and plead with my manager before she let me go) to participate monthly.
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