As we shared the Gospel with our Mahafaly villages, we felt daily the weight of our people’s physical needs. Often, they struggled to even think about their relationship with God or spirituality, because the intensity of their hunger, thirst, or sickness.

 

As foreigners entering these villages, we usually encountered four general stereotypes. For our people, most foreigners fall into these four categories:

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• Aid workers, who give out money and resources

• Tourists, who give large sums in response to begging

• Missionaries, who build church buildings

• Perpetrators of human trafficking, who steal children

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Understandably, then, our people were suspicious of us at first, and also expected us to give them material assistance. They asked for it regularly. Though burdened by the reality of their need, we also desperately wanted true relationships--with us and with Christ--not relationships based on receiving money, food, benefits. We also knew that any assistance we could provide would be limited. We couldn’t help everyone. What was best for our people long-term? How could we be a part of seeing development in their circumstances that would be sustainable?

 

For several years, we avoided providing material assistance. We enlisted the help of community development specialists who spent several years evaluating our people. We observed, we asked questions, we evaluated our perceptions of their needs according to their perspective, we prayed for wisdom for our strategy and mercy for our people--and we continued to wrestle with inadequacy and what our role should be.