Back Lake District

Today I want to take you on a 5k jogging route down the street and through Back Lake District -- a community of people living in relative poverty, with negligible social mobility and limited access to basic education and health care.

So let's run. Early morning, off the university main road pictured above, down this alley...

...here we are. Back Lake District.

This stall is a home and discarded school desks are dining tables.

The boy below was struck by an electric bike moments after I captured the photo. I carried the wailing child -- who in my arms felt exactly the size and shape of one of my own boys -- to his grandmother. The biker fled. 

Someone in the boy's family is a street garbage collector; the aluminum push-wagon and orange jacket are the equipment for that occupation on a low rung of society. (But certainly not the lowest -- sex slaves, so-called "one-bowl of noodles prostitutes", vagabond-beggars, ex-cons -- these are some of the lowest.)

"Mahjong" (a gambling game) "Little Store" and on the bottom, "Cold Popsicles"

How abouts we stop and shoot the breeze with these guys.
"Are you Russian?" is their friendly guess, just like most people assume of me, Russian.
Wonder what assumptions they would make about you, if you were really here?
And what assumptions have you and I made about them?

Boy.

Our first glimpse of Back Lake: mucky, stinking, filled with trash and slimy carp.

In the market for a new mattress pad?

Or a push-up bra?

 

Doing his best to make a living penny by penny, collecting recyclables from the trash.

If you lived in Changsha you would see this type of laborer every single day.
If you grew up in Back Lake you might be this type of laborer every single day.

 

When you're stir-frying the lotus root and suddenly the flame flickers out and you realize the gas can has just gone empty and dinner guests are arriving in 15 minutes -- call for a new tank to be delivered pronto. Does it sound as though I speak from experience?

 

Need to rent scaffolding? 

This man is very nice and he can help you out. Early in the morning, however, his hands are always busy stripping wires.

The unexpected: Back Lake is home to a few vocational art schools.

"Welcome!!! China - Changsha - Back Lake International Art District"

Auntie warmly shows us around her vegetable garden. Sigua! Loofa Gourd. My favorite.

Now we're jogging out of Back Lake and into university territory, which means: snacks.

City subway construction.

Nobody from Back Lake is going to be purchasing an iced latte in exchange for one day's wages.

Patrons are you and me, university professors, college kids from wealthy families and international students, usually Koreans.

Next door to Starbucks -- this shy girl is a friend. She was compelled to quit school at age 14 to work here in her parents' pancake and dumpling stand. Maternal family cites an ambiguous Christian background, from another part of the country. But that is a distant memory; they're not connected to any group here.

Still running, right!? Avoid getting creamed by a bus; at this intersection buses don't stop for red lights. Enter Central South University, main campus.

Sprint up the staircase behind the university cafeteria and we're home again, Gao Jia Ping neighborhood. Post-run AC and glass of cold water? Please come on into our apartment, it's here. 

Thank you for your words of encouragement and for your prayers. We completed day 3 of summer camp today. So far it has been a success in that the students are enjoying it and learning something. It's killer-fatiguing, but I think caring for the students' educational, social and spiritual needs is worth the labor.

counting the graces

thank you Father for

30 minutes to think

Lanzi was here when I got home, and she took the boys out, and being with her is the opposite of stress

you work through us despite our shortcomings

hope in failure, there's always hope

Dad on his birthday, he's a quality guy -- loyal, strong, hard-working, youthful, helpful, kind, and I like him

reconnecting with AV & PB in email

from Piper: a call to accept difficulties as we participate in the great commission, a call not to pursue an easy life but rather to pursue God

Drew is ever-gracious to this nutso woman

kids felt loved and peaceful today, it was evident