This is not news for many of you who have traveled or who were born or raised overseas in Africa, Asia or the Caribbean. Our standard of living and economic prosperity is unrivaled in much of the world. The houses and apartments we live in are palatial by international standards. Hot running water for bathing, cooking and washing of dishes and clothes is a given. We drink water from the faucet without even thinking of whether it might or might not make us ill.
Most homes have at least one bathroom.
When there s some extra money in the family budget, we are inclined to do some redecorating around the house, put up a fresh coat of paint, plant some new shrubs in the front yard or even buy a larger television for the family room. Though there are still too many people who fall between the cracks of our society, at the very least we can say that the number of people forced to scavenge through trash dumps to feed their families is small. Not so in much of the world. The people of Colonia Episcopal in Honduras live in one room shacks stitched together with pieces of plastic tarps, rope, palm tree branches, cardboard and corrugated metal. The family who will eventually live in the home paid for by Our Saviour, the Quintanilla family with father Jose, mother Marta, and their four children Siberio, Ada, Nora and Jorge, sleep in two small single beds.