When the 30 school children in Lemonal, Belize, see Margaret Walworth and her companions braving the sandy, stony road that leads to their community, they come running. She arrives with supplies and with many hands willing to work.
A young boy clutches a Christmas stocking given to him by a mission team from Anderson. Stockings for the children contained hats, gloves, soap, toothbrushes, pencils, fruit and a toy. “The children’s reactions took your breath away,” said Walworth.But the greatest gift isn’t the food, shoes or books that they bring; it is the time spent sitting and talking, or walking hand-in-hand with a child down the road, singing.
Walworth, a professor at Anderson University, has been going on mission trips to the Central American country of Belize for the last 10 years, often bringing some of her students and colleagues with her. She and 18 students have been gearing up for a spring break trip in March.
“A good friend in Belize had referred to the children in this rural community as the ‘forgotten children.’ We have not forgotten them,” Walworth said. “We cannot forget them.”
Getting to Lemonal is not something accomplished by accident. The rural community of about 140 lies miles away from the nearest city and is found at the end of a road that washes out when it rains.
Savannah Keown, an Anderson University student, helps tie the laces on a new pair of shoes for a Belize girl.Since discovering the community three years ago, Walworth now intentionally visits the community every year, along with students and colleagues, to spread God’s love.
“It has totally captured the students’ hearts. The kids look for you to come back,” she said. “It’s just filling up. It’s just being there and holding their hands and letting them know they are significant.”
Walworth said that since the community is so isolated, visitors tend not to come back. But she and the others she brings on the mission trips say they wouldn’t think about not going back to see the children.
“They come running when they see you. When you tell them about God, they trust that you’re telling them the truth,” she said.
Walworth said they often work side by side with the children, painting and cleaning. But they also spend time reading, teaching and listening. None of the children had shoes, so one year they measured their feet, and on the next visit brought them all shoes.
“In meeting the needs, really, the biggest thing you’re doing is showing God’s love,” she said. “I’m just thankful every year that I get to go back. You just lose your heart to the kids.”
Walworth said on their mission trips they bring some of the material things the children are lacking, but it’s the time spent with them that seems to have the biggest impact. “They love to hold your hand and walk down the road and sing. One of the biggest things we do is – just sit and be with them,” she said.
In her five years at Anderson University, Walworth has brought a number of students and colleagues along with her on the trips.
Asked why she keeps going back, she says she just couldn’t not go. “I feel very strongly that God keeps calling me back to share it with other people, I think it’s a chance to do his work,” Walworth said. “You can just feel God in Belize. He is definitely there.”
While many of the people in Belize lack material things, they have something that Americans could learn from, Walworth said. They don’t have a fast pace of life or put a lot of focus on material things; instead, they spend time enjoying the simple things and just talking with each other.
“Prayer guides this mission work,” said Walworth, shown leading the children in a time of prayer. “It is a blessing to be able to go to Belize and to do God’s work there.”“There’s so much we could learn about what’s really important,” Walworth said.
She said when she goes to Belize, she doesn’t come to make changes that she thinks need to be made. Instead, she listens to what the people need and want, and does her best to fulfill their requests.
She said the Anderson community has been great about donating items to take to Belize, and the team holds fund-raisers to purchase items to take with them. This spring, some of the items include shoes, personal items, first-aid kits, Bibles, books and stuffed toys. Last year, children at Whitehall Elementary School in Anderson made 200 stockings and made books for the children in Belize.
In addition to spring break, Walworth usually visits Belize in the summer and at Christmastime.
“We’re always anticipating what might be the next opportunity,” she said. “They know you’ll come back and help, with the best of intentions.”