~ By Joy Dodd ~
Let me introduce you to a sweet island lady we met soon after coming to Roatan.
Carolina grew up on this small Caribbean island, and her story is not unlike many others here. The other day, she called to tell us that her business has been slow and she had no food in her house or money to buy food. She has a little booth, on the side of the road in a little town here called French Harbor. She sells used clothing and home-made jewelry to make a living. In the time we’ve known her, this was the first time she asked us for food. She does her best to take care of herself, but isn’t afraid to ask for help when she needs it.
Why isn’t she afraid to ask? Because she learned as a child the compassion of missionaries and has experienced a love like none other from those who came to share Jesus with her. She even wanted to become a missionary because of the love she experienced through them. Though she doesn’t live in a foreign land (to her), she is sharing the love of Jesus to those around her; she is a missionary in her own land. And, she has learned that God is faithful, when you ask Him, He will supply your need, and He usually works through His people to do that.
Carolina’s mother was beaten and abused by her spouse. Her mother, not knowing how to survive such violence, left Carolina with her grandmother and headed for the United States in search of a job and a good life. Carolina’s hope was that one day her mom would bring her to the USA. Meanwhile, Carolina’s grandmother and aunts saw her as a burden, just another mouth to feed. Carolina shares in the book she wrote about her life, The Darker Side of Paradise, The Life of Carolina Brooks, why her mother and others will leave their families to go to the United States. She says, “The movies make everyone in the States look pretty, happy and never hungry. That is the lure for us. We want the same chance that every US citizen gets the day they are born. The chance to achieve our dreams. I know most of our ideas of the states are skewed but when you have nothing to lose, you have to believe in something. Without hope we have nothing…
“The movies make everyone in the States look pretty, happy and never hungry. That is the lure for us. We want the same chance that every US citizen gets the day they are born. The chance to achieve our dreams. I know most of our ideas of the states are skewed but when you have nothing to lose, you have to believe in something. Without hope we have nothing…
~ The Darker Side of Paradise, pg. 12
Carolina doesn’t try to get to the US to give her hope. She knows now that her only hope is in Christ Jesus. Those caring missionaries had discipled her and showed her that hope in anything but Jesus is hope in vain.
If life wasn’t hard enough, Carolina then contracted polio at the age of eleven and was also beaten by her grandmother for trying to go to school, for wanting to “be something.” She would tell people, “Somebody is going to place a paper in my face one day and I am going to be able to read it. I am going to be able to write my own name and not have anybody write it for me…I will be somebody.”
“Somebody is going to place a paper in my face one day and I am going to be able to read it. I am going to be able to write my own name and not have anybody write it for me…I will be somebody.”
~ The Darker Side of Paradise, pg. 18
As much as she wanted an education, she unfortunately had to leave school at the age of 14 to go to work, having completed the fourth grade at that point. For Carolina, and so many others, growing up in Roatan has been difficult. “Anger and violence are natural and acceptable for everyone around me. Men beat their wives, wives beat their kids, kids beat other kids and the cycle continues. Violence is a way of life here.”
“Anger and violence are natural and acceptable for everyone around me. Men beat their wives, wives beat their kids, kids beat other kids and the cycle continues. Violence is a way of life here.”
~ The Darker Side of Paradise, Pg. 52
But there was always somewhere she knew she could go. She would steal away from home to go over to missionaries homes, or to church, “to a place where I was treated like I mattered.” She was touched by the fact these people would do things for her “for no other reason, but to show me love and that I was worth it.”
Because of the positive impact missionaries and the church have had in Carolina’s life, she says, “I have tried to do the same thing with my life. I sit on the street most days selling clothes or anything else I have and I try to be a blessing to everyone I see.” And she truly is that blessing! Today, she shows love to the young children and youth in her community. She is the light in the darkness there. She knows the darkness those children face each day. She said, “This is why I appreciate the people in the church who know me and are able to come into this dark community to shine God’s light. Most people have no hope for kids like mine but I do and these people of God do as well. I believe God has a plan for all of my kids and I am praying for them continually. They want to do good and they know how to do good, but they face a constant struggle against the darkness of drugs, sex and violence which saturates this island.
“I sit on the street most days selling clothes or anything else I have and I try to be a blessing to everyone I see.”
“This is why I appreciate the people in the church who know me and are able to come into this dark community to shine God’s light.”
~ The Darker Side of Paradise, Pg. 62, 68
So when this sweet lady calls and says she is so hungry, how can we let her continue to go hungry? We want Carolina to continue to be a light to her community. To show that God cares and that the church (the body of Christ…that’s us, the people) loves her and that she matters, she has value!
You can read more about Carolina’s life in her book. Buy it here.
There are so many more, living here in the Bay Islands, like Carolina, who need missionaries and the church, to show them they have value – that they matter. If you are a partner with us at JTTN, YOU are making a difference in peoples lives, YOU are helping them feel valued, YOU are sharing Jesus with them and giving them the hope they so dearly need. We thank you, but more importantly, Carolina and others like her thank YOU!
It was just a box of groceries we delivered that day, but you would have thought we gave her the world! She called the next day to thank us again and to let us know she made chicken soup and shared with a neighbor lady who also had little food. She said it was nice to have warm food in her belly again. Her voice was filled with renewed hope.
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