cart before the horse.

Cart Before The Horse.

Many years ago, a friend of Land of a Thousand Hills traveled overseas to do a Habitat for Humanity build. They were about to chop down a tree in the plot of land where the house was to be built when the future homeowners stopped them. The Americans were confused. Why were these people so adamant that this tree not be cut down? Did they not want the house to be built for them? Why would you try to save a tree when it would cost you a home?

Finally, the builders were able to understand that this tree, so insignificant to them, was actually a coffee tree, and the sole source of income for this family.

Which made me dream up this comic. How often do we put the cart before the horse? How often do we dream up a great idea and without thinking it through and end up doing more harm than good? How often do we cut down the tree so we can build the house without thinking of the purpose the tree might serve? Not just in our charity efforts but in our work relationships, our personal lives, and our private goals and ambitions?

Today, in one of our many conversation about what Land of a Thousand Hills is doing in Rwanda, Robert said something that really moved me.

"We are here to make sure there are no more orphans, Christina. We are giving parents jobs and paying them a living wage so they can support their children, not giving them handouts so that they become lazy and learn to rely on someone else for their bread and butter so that one day, when the money doesn't come anymore, they have no choice but to abandon their children to the streets to fend for themselves. There they will inevitably fall into prostitution or drug abuse, most likely both, and foster a whole new generation of children whose parents cannot provide for them. No. No, sir. I won't stand for it."

We have to make sure these kids in Bukonya have homes and families and food to come home to in the first place. What's the best way we can do that? We give their parents work. Real work. Sustainable work. Work they can be proud of, work they can believe in. Work they can pass on to their children so their children can provide for their future families. And out of the excess fruit of their labors we can then return to bless them.

Robert won't stand for it and neither will I. Not while I can help it. And I hope you won't either.

No carts before the horse here, people. Let's give these people work to do. Let's buy so much coffee that Bukonya has to open it's coffee fields to farmers from other districts who are commuting in to help farm enough coffee to meet our demand! Let's stand together against poverty by helping train people's hands while we help them heal their hearts and their families and their communities. That's how we change lives. That's how we make a lasting difference.

The more coffee we drink, the more good we do. Why?
Because it's more than just a cup of coffee.

drink coffee. do good.