After church we went through town to go to the market to buy food. I was walking and almost tripped over something when I looked down to see a man lying on the ground. He was dead. His body was stiff and flies covered his face. That was definitely something I never expected to see, but what shocked me even more than the sight of a corpse was that he was laying on the sidewalk in the middle of town, in front of a store. No one moved him, he just lay there dead. Our guard David was with us and he told me later that he was a "mad man", meaning that he was crazy (probably just mentally handicapped). David said in broken English, "Did you see his skin? He hadn't showered in months."
We bought food at the market to make to give to the "street children." This is something that we will do every Sunday. Street children are basically orphans whose parents can't afford to keep them. They live in the slums during the day, but at night time they all sleep in a big pile downtown. We made the typical meal here, rice and beans, and put them in bags. It was madness. The children were going crazy, they wanted food so badly, it was heart wrenching. We tried to have them stand in line, but that just didn't work and we didn't have enough food for every child. They didn't want us to give out the food yet and the children were surrounding us, literally pleading for something to eat in their ripped clothing. One grabbed me and said, "please please food me. I'm sick.", then lifted up his shirt to show me his bloated stomach. That was the norm, unfortunately. The worst part was, these kids were high out of their minds. Every single one of them just completely gone. They are usually ages 6-8. Any money they get they spend on paint and inhale the fumes. It was honestly pretty scary too, they just grabbed you but not in the normal way they usually do. They were desperate for something, anything. These children really need help.
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