This evening in Managua I’m reminded, haunted, by Yamalette’s eyes. This old friend of mine recounted a story that changed her life… of a young child scavanging in the city’s dump who opened and devoured a can of chocolate only to die horrifically from the rat poison contained within.

As she teared up I felt myself do the same–not for that particular child but for all the unknown stories represented therein. How we don’t tend to see those “on the periphery” (as Pope Francis suggests) but if we don’t see them, we are condemned to never see change.

My life with IPM these past sixteen (really 25) years has been about the all those on the periphery of our global society. Not the biggest or best know organization but a consistent struggle to touch a single life each day, in each place, with each partner so that their life may be changed.

As I felt my eyes tear up alongside Yamalette’s this morning, I knew that at least for now and despite all the challenges, it hasn’t been a life in vein.

Toda cambia (everything changes)!

Peace, Joe

Managua, Nicaragua, June 27, 2017