Middle age

So, I spent several hours with the kids yesterday. At worst they are homeless with no parental figure. At best they have one parent who is in prison and another who is likely suffering from HIV/AIDS. They range in age from about 3 or 4 to around 19. My track team is between 10 and 19. We "trained" together for several hours last night. The training turned into male role modeling. As I walked down the one paved road holding hands with two of these kids I asked them their ages...15 and 16. Both had that "natural" stride coaches used to tell me they looked for in distance runners...head not moving up or down, efficiency of movement, and love of running. A different time and place...who knows.

I had just read the statistic that in Africa today the AVERAGE age of locals is 16...think of it...16. I wondered what the life expectancy of these kids I was holding hands with could be. When I got home I looked it up on my computer. Get ready! Survival life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa AFTER live birth: Sierra Leona: 25.9 years; Niger 29.1 years; Malawi 29.4 years; Zambia 30.3 years; Botswana 32.3 years; Uganda 32.7 years; Rwanda 32.8 years; Zimbawe 32.9 years; Mali 33.1 years and Ethiopia 33.5 years. My runners are middle aged! Their life expectancy is about the same as their years lived on the streets.

Two years ago I retired at age 63. I went on Medicare at age 65 last year. I am somewhat unclear as to my current life expectancy but it is somewhere around ten years. Not much different than my new friends. I no longer can think of myself as middle aged. But my 15 and 16 year old vibrant, young and beautiful friends? They somehow learn survival skills that include a passing knowledge of my language. Their promise is limitless except for one factor: the location and condition of their birth. I am shocked.

I don't know how many people are reading or will read this and it probably doesn't matter. However, love must include an effort to understand and to empathize. I can't say hope includes the expectation of a long life for these folks. But it does mean hope for the compassion and love of the rest of us just as Jesus calls us to give. And I guess minimally that means that once the cat is out of the bag we have to deal with it in an ongoing way. Jesus would not turn His back on this problem however unsolvable it may seem.