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Last February, I was privileged to be part of a food studies tour with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) to Honduras to learn about food justice issues. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), represented by ERDO (Emergency and Relief Development Overseas), is one of 15 Christian denominations that has partnered to form Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Together we provide a Christian response to world hunger. This trip was different from a missions trip because we weren't sent to help with a particular project. We were there to learn firsthand about the issues that many people in our world are facing. I came home with a changed perspective.

In a country where 56% of its people are considered extremely poor because they live on less than $1 a day, there was a lot to learn. We heard firsthand about unequal food and income distribution, corruption, violence and poor working conditions. These problems are common in many countries of the world. I left Honduras with a greater global awareness, an increased appreciation of how ERDO partners with the poor worldwide to alleviate poverty, and a growing sense of urgency to be part of the change I want to see in the world.

We visited a school for children who lived and worked in a dump. The leaders of the ministry there use the term "work" to give scrounging for garbage some dignity. It was nauseating to pull up to the dump in our tour bus. I couldn't believe how quickly groups of people started looking through each new load of garbage hoping to find something of value.

The smell and everything about being there was difficult to experience. It was hard to believe that the precious children we had just been playing with at the school would have to work here later in the day. I've never seen such a hopeless place, yet Johnny, the leader of this ministry, has such vision and hope. The love of Christ is so evident in his life and in his commitment to this ministry. He told us that sometimes the people who live there will, out of friendship, ask him to eat with them. He is often offered chicken soup made of discarded chicken parts from a local poultry plant, or fruit well past the "sell by" date. The people share what they have, and what they have comes from the dump. Johnny eats with them, fully aware of where the food comes from, and in doing so brings some dignity to those who have so little.

A roadside market. Photo © Liesl Meier.

We visited a clothing factory in San Pedro where the average workers are single women between the ages of 18 and 30, a common demographic for workers in factories like this throughout the country. These women move to the city with the promise of a better life. Instead they find that they must work for long hours, meet unrealistic expectations, and experience lifelong health problems. Very few are able to work more than four years in these difficult conditions. It is sobering to think of the working conditions and how little these talented women earn compared to how much the clothing is sold for overseas.

Before going on this trip, I gave little thought to where some of my food comes from. Here in Canada, I am so accustomed to being able to buy any type of food I want, in season or out. In Honduras I was faced with facts that we seldom consider. The best food products are sold for export simply because local farmers need to earn as much money from their produce as possible. The people who produce much of the food we eat do not benefit from the high costs we pay for that same food. This often means that those who are producing the food are themselves hungry or eating substandard food. We visited a banana plantation and saw the process of production right from the tree to the truck. How often have I bought bananas only to have them rot before I eat them? Our lifestyle is frequently at the expense of others' sacrifices, and their efforts are often wasted.

Children from the school at the dump in Tegucigalpa. Photo © Katie Reynolds.

Time and again our Christianity doesn't come at great cost to us. Yet, like many of our own PAOC missionaries, in Honduras I met people who were serving God at great personal sacrifice. The women at the dump school never take a vacation because, if the school year ends, the children will stop going to school entirely. Kurt, a university professor from the States, got tired of hearing depressing statistics and started a justice organization. Carlos, a man with a vision for a school in the worst area of Honduras, worked to bring the school to such a new standard that it has, in fact, changed a community. These people have all chosen to live among those they feel called to help, despite personal risk or cost.

In the midst of the injustice, I saw the love of Christ manifested in such practical ways. I ask myself, what can we do in our communities to promote justice? I think it starts with being stewards of what we have been given. By taking care of our environment, protecting resources, thinking before we make purchases, and partnering with organizations such as the CFGB and ERDO, which actively promote justice, we can change our world. Isaiah 1:17 says: "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." My trip to Honduras opened my eyes to people who are actively doing this in hard places. I can't help but think there's something each of us can do right where we live as we seek to follow Isaiah 1:17.

Our love for Christ must compel us to be a voice for those without a voice. Will you partner with ERDO as we seek to fulfil Isaiah 1:17? For information on where ERDO is working or how to partner with us, you can find us on the web (www.erdo.ca), contact us by phone at (905) 542-7400 or by e-mail (info@erdo.ca). For more information about ERDO's partnership and the work of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, please visit www.foodgrainsbank.ca. Together we are "…doing good."

ERDO is involved in four key areas: ChildCARE Plus (Child Sponsorship), Crisis Response, Food Relief & Development. Liesl Meier works in the ERDO office in communications and promotions.

This article appears in the July 2008 edition of testimony, PAOC's monthly publication.