When We Know Better, We Can Do Better

Several years ago, I was leading a team to build an orphanage in Peru for children who were living in a garbage dump. We showed up with tools, energy, and a genuine desire to help children in need. This was our third year in a row spending thousands of hours and thousands of dollars to make it happen. We believed we were doing something good, noble, and compassionate.

Then one afternoon, while standing in the garbage dump, breathing in the awful stench of trash, one of the orphanage employees mentioned it, almost in passing. The truth about the kids who would be moving into the orphanage we were building.