Is Ignorance Bliss?

My answer? Maybe, but it's not a bliss I want. I was very surprised one day when I was about the difficulty of a visit I just made to a very poor family to hear the superior of the community say "Sometimes it's better not to see." She's from Colombia and has been a missionary for many years, and if you don't want to be with the needy why become a Sister? Anyway, that's not the point of this. I wonder what it would be like to live in a bubble and have no idea the world has problems. I feel like a sense of something bigger would still be there. Plus, regardless of social status everyone experiences difficulties, so there is no such thing as a perfect bubble world. Much better to live in the real world and worry about things that matter more than whether a pair of shoes matches a handbag.
I often hear about people who "left their heart in Africa." I don't think I'll know where mine is staying until I leave, but it has been broken into a million pieces so many times that I can't imagine some little piece hasn't fallen out. Just the other day a woman came to the mission carrying a beautiful 4 month old baby. However, the child was born without arms or legs. The woman had come from a decent distance because she was told one of the Fathers could help her. Her husband refused to accept the child, and since she would not abandon her baby he and his family kicked her out. This woman had so much love for her little girl, it was beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time.
I get bits and pieces of the story of the student I work with from the orphanage, Millicent. She is 20 years old, but a freshman in high school. She came to the Sisters when she was in class 6. Before, she was basically like a Cinderella in her brother-in-law's home. Even for holidays she stays with a host family or the Sisters because she has no relatives that can provide a safe situation for her. It is likely she was abused in the past. Despite this, she has a wonderful spirit, an it honestly is the highlight of my day spending time with her. She is trying hard in school, but was so sad after she got her exam grades from this term and had failed most of the subjects. It is not that she is unintelligent, it is because she does not have the proper knowledge base. To me she is like a toolbox that is ready to be filled, but so far is missing most of the tools. Millicent is worried that her sponsors will no longer pay for her to go to school, and even seems to be losing hope.
The little girls in the childrens home mostly have situations that are somehow similar. Yet they show so much love. When I greet them I always give them hugs and kisses. At first they were a bit hesitant, but now they have started giving me kisses when I am holding their hand or they are sitting on my lap.
One of the students in the techincal school was hit by a bicycle, and after being inintensive care for many days he passed away. The hospital would not release the body until the bill of 300,000 shillings was paid. The mother is aging and on her own with no way of getting that amount of money. A "harambee" was held, and the members of the community all came together to raise enough funds.
So, yes, these situations are hard to see, and they don't happen just in Africa. But, in each one there is something incredible also, a sense of tenacity, or love, or support. Despite the hardship of these, and even the hardship of observing them and feeling so powerless to remedy the situations (a lot of times what I can do seems like putting a band-aid on broken arm -- although it really is true that every drop creates a ripple), you can see so much good in the people who are enduring bad things, and it is beautiful and heart-breaking at the same time. Would I rather be ignorant and not know that these things happen? No! I want to be here and share my blessings and in turn learn so much about the big world which may be small after all.