January Reflections: Strangers

Strangers: Do you ever have strangers in your home? Who? Is it comfortable or unnerving?

I hear the clanking on our metal gate...  "Bueeenas..."
A common phenomenon in my neighborhood is to have visits at the gate from folks asking for food... money... soap... anything you'll give them.  I think that because such a high concentration of gringos (white Westerners) live in our neighborhood, because of the language school, we see a lot of these people, but honestly, after talking to my teachers, they are in many neighborhoods in San Jose.  There is always a neighborhood better off than your own, right?

We have heard all the stories, really, no different than the stories that I heard back in the States.  A child sick in the hospital.  A man that is out of work.  A husband who doesn't provide for his family.  Broken cars and broken relationships and broken luck.  We have had men and women, young and old at our gate.  Some ask for money.  Others ask for food.  Some ask for anything you have to give.  And once you help once or twice, I'm pretty sure your house is marked, as others come by again and again. 

I am not nervous when folks stop at my gate, though sometimes I am annoyed, as then I have to stop what I'm doing, unlock doors, take time to listen to a story, decipher Spanish and discern what might be truth.  I sometime wonder if I'm helping, or if I'm just a sucker along the way that day.  Our standard response is to offer a sandwich bag full of uncooked rice and another full of uncooked beans.  Every person has taken it with a "gracias."  We don't give cash.  That has been our standard policy for years now, even in the States. We want to contribute to needs.  It is less likely that a person will resell food for cash when it is not in the original package. It is not inconceivable, however. How can we ever really know?

I know native Costa Ricans that don't give anything, don't even go to the door.  And in a sense, I can understand that.  Some have used it as a front to get you to the gate and then get into the house to steal.  But I can't help but think of Hebrews 13:1-2, and very practically, I just figure its better to "err" on the side of compassion.  So, on this one, I'll continue to walk by faith.

(remember January Reflections '11 at TheGloriousImpossible)