A Different Kind of Safety
Safety? What does that mean here? Does safety in numbers still apply? Gates, locks, high walls with sharp spikes on the top. Will that protect me?
It isn't at all that I live in such fear of my environment where I don't want to leave the "safety" of my own home, but the constant guard that I have up, no matter where I go is a weight that I didn't carry back in the States. To give you just a glimpse of my surroundings, where I live and work-- the area I live, is not the most dangerous, but isn't the safest area to live either. A few weeks ago, one night at 1:30AM I was awoken to the sharp sounds of 5-6 gunshots fired close to my house. It was the first time I have heard those in my neighborhood, or EVER for that matter near me. Not that I will be walking in my neighborhood at that time of the night, but knowing that this does occasionally happen in this area, didn't bring a lot of comfort. The shots fired was with an attempted kid/adult napping. A couple weeks after I arrived here, there was an armed robbery during the day of a pedestrian walking on the street next to my own. And the other week as a gesture of friendliness after a brief conversation, I returned a handshake to a street vendor who offered his hand to me to shake. I did not know that it would be a slight battle to get my hand back as I kept pulling back from him trying to free my hand. I learned that day from some of my Peruvian friends, what should have been an obvious lesson, that safety comes before friendliness.
I have already been robbed, however I am so grateful that it wasn't an armed robbery and that they were sly enough that I didn't even feel my cell phone being slipped out of my pocket. And I am glad that was all that happened. If I am to be robbed, I'll take that anyday!
Many days I travel through some very unsafe areas, and since I am white, I will always be a target. It is a common stereotype and misconception that "gringos" (white people) have a lot of money, and that we carry it with us.
Like I said, it isn't that I live everyday in a debilitating fear that I will be robbed, attacked, or whatever, but there is a constant need to watch my steps, even within my own street, and be wise in what I do, and how I do it. Living like this daily adds more tension than this job calls for in and of itself.
What I can't refute however, is knowing that I am in God's will here in Peru. As my ol' friend Jonah will attest to, being in His will and in His hand is the safest place to be. He didn't like the plan God had for his life, and turned to go in the opposite direction. Soon he was swallowed by a whale, and spent 3 days inside with dead fish (mmm..... great smell!!) and the strong acid inside the stomach (probably bleaching his skin and hair) before being vomited onto land. I have learned in my own life as well that it just isn't a pleasant experience willfully doing the opposite of what God wants in my life. I know I am where He wants me, and that is the safest place to be. And you know what? Even if my God does allow me to be robbed, attacked, injured, or killed--He will use it for good! My life is His anyways!! So what do I have to loose?
It isn't at all that I live in such fear of my environment where I don't want to leave the "safety" of my own home, but the constant guard that I have up, no matter where I go is a weight that I didn't carry back in the States. To give you just a glimpse of my surroundings, where I live and work-- the area I live, is not the most dangerous, but isn't the safest area to live either. A few weeks ago, one night at 1:30AM I was awoken to the sharp sounds of 5-6 gunshots fired close to my house. It was the first time I have heard those in my neighborhood, or EVER for that matter near me. Not that I will be walking in my neighborhood at that time of the night, but knowing that this does occasionally happen in this area, didn't bring a lot of comfort. The shots fired was with an attempted kid/adult napping. A couple weeks after I arrived here, there was an armed robbery during the day of a pedestrian walking on the street next to my own. And the other week as a gesture of friendliness after a brief conversation, I returned a handshake to a street vendor who offered his hand to me to shake. I did not know that it would be a slight battle to get my hand back as I kept pulling back from him trying to free my hand. I learned that day from some of my Peruvian friends, what should have been an obvious lesson, that safety comes before friendliness.
I have already been robbed, however I am so grateful that it wasn't an armed robbery and that they were sly enough that I didn't even feel my cell phone being slipped out of my pocket. And I am glad that was all that happened. If I am to be robbed, I'll take that anyday!
Many days I travel through some very unsafe areas, and since I am white, I will always be a target. It is a common stereotype and misconception that "gringos" (white people) have a lot of money, and that we carry it with us.
Like I said, it isn't that I live everyday in a debilitating fear that I will be robbed, attacked, or whatever, but there is a constant need to watch my steps, even within my own street, and be wise in what I do, and how I do it. Living like this daily adds more tension than this job calls for in and of itself.
What I can't refute however, is knowing that I am in God's will here in Peru. As my ol' friend Jonah will attest to, being in His will and in His hand is the safest place to be. He didn't like the plan God had for his life, and turned to go in the opposite direction. Soon he was swallowed by a whale, and spent 3 days inside with dead fish (mmm..... great smell!!) and the strong acid inside the stomach (probably bleaching his skin and hair) before being vomited onto land. I have learned in my own life as well that it just isn't a pleasant experience willfully doing the opposite of what God wants in my life. I know I am where He wants me, and that is the safest place to be. And you know what? Even if my God does allow me to be robbed, attacked, injured, or killed--He will use it for good! My life is His anyways!! So what do I have to loose?
posted by Becca @ 11:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home