Discouragment

I got a phone call today from someone who I'd been expecting to pick up an application for our Hope Fund tomorrow. I was excited about the opportunity to impact another person who had lost everything in the Tsunami, and equally as excited that this loan would have been the first loan through a church ServLife had never worked with before. But the phone call today ended that conversation before it started. The pastor called to tell me that he'd found a better option for the people in his church than receiving a loan from us. In a land such as this, why accept an interest free loan when you can get the money for free? The tsunami was such a big catastrophe, organizations lined up to give things away for free--ServLife included--from houses to boats, refrigerators to motorbike sidecarts. Anything & everything people needed to survive was given freely to them--and thank God for it!
Unfortunately though, I don't think we should depend on hand-outs forever. I don't blame those people for finding a better option--I would obviously do the same thing! But my hope is that the people here aren't becoming dependent on the foreign aid. A guy last week just candidly walked up to me and said, "I'd like you to buy me some large ice boxes, they'll cost about $75." And this was a guy selling off the 3rd boat he received for free for just over $1,500. Obviously, he's got the money to buy them himself, but the question is: why would he if he knows he could get them for free?
I pray that my work here is not in vain, and that people are realizing the benefit of being financially independent and self supported. How beautiful it is to have that freedom, and what a blessing it is to be able to provide that for people.