Processing the dichotomy

Today was a mixture of what felt like extremes. I have asked for prayers for my graduation speech and I will share more about that experience in the next entry. I am processing what I experienced today - after graduation - because, well, it was hard.
I was invited to dinner at Dejoy and Hawa's house and to meet their children. After we visited a while, and ate a lot of pineapple and papaya, Dejoy took me on a tour of the community (they host church in their house). I am told to bring my phone because we are going to the beach. Their house is nice and the houses around them are typical of what I had seen so far. Lots of kids and buckets of water, food cooking over coal, bright paint colors, and uneven dirt yards. Dejoy greets everyone and the little children run to him. But between home and the beach we went through a part of the neighborhood that is extremely destitute. I haven't been in a developing nation in almost seven years. And it was harsh reminder. I

don't need to explain the details of what I saw, I think we have all seen the UNICEF and Save the Children ads on tv. Let's just say it doesn't seem like much has changed.
I couldn't help but think-has any good come from the effort of trying to help? It was a moment of hopelessness for me and it is not even my personal day to day reality. I felt the hopelessness of being able to be of any use to anyone in Liberia. I can't change this situation. Jesus even says "the poor you will always have with you...(Matthew 26)" so why do anything at all? Because Jesus did not say this so that we would have an excuse to not help othes. We are called to live generously, to live a life of sacrifice even. Galatians 2:10 reminds us of Paul's words, "only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." I can go on sharing all the verses (1 John 3:17 and Proverbs 21:13 to keep us going). These things seem at odds with one another. We will always have the poor and yet we are to give generously to the poor.
When I worked at St. Luke's doing community outreach, a fellow "laborer" and I lamented about how hard it is to make real change and we agreed we would pray about this. When we came back together, we both had heard the same message. I can only do what God has put on my heart to do. For that, I am accountable. What if we all held ourselves accountable to those nudges of the heart? Isn't it worth trying out?