hope?

I've been having mixed feelings about 'hope' lately.  Honestly, I had about decided that it wasn't a good thing.  Visiting my friends in Kenya this week has given me a new perspective.

This is Mary.  I met Mary on my second trip to Kenya in 2008.  At that time, she had recently arrived from a refugee camp in Tanzania.  Mary had two small children with her.  Pastor Matthew Kyalo allowed Mary's children into Glory Prep Academy.  Mary could not afford the tuition so she was offered a job at the school.  This is Mary today.  Her children are ages 7 and 9 and they are both still in school at Glory Prep.  Mary does a wonderful job.  The school could not run efficiently without her.  Mary had hope.  Mary has hope.  Because Mary did something about her hope, her children will have more opportunities than she ever had.

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.  ~Eric Hoffer

I was discussing education in Kenya with Francis and Zippora last night.  They expressed a sense of hopelessness because the Minister of Education who was doing a fantastic job had recently passed away and now all the public school teachers are on strike in the country.  There is a new president in Kenya and the administration as a whole hasn't quite gotten it together enough to focus on education.  

Our conversation kept coming back to the fact that if they kept doing their part with the children in their lives they could still have hope. 

Hope can either be medicine or it can be a drug.  Hope without action is a slow killer.  If you've given up hope, that may be a good if it's the poisonous kind.  Do what you can with what you have.  Always.

Namaste,
YogaGypsy