Santiago Garbage, & Spiritual Sanitation

A recent online article stated that...
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Santiago residents worried about air pollution must now watch where they step: tons of garbage are piling up on city streets one day after garbage collectors began their strike. All household garbage collection has stopped and activity at numerous landfill sites is blocked.

The 18,000 sanitation workers are upset that the mayors of greater Santiago have not fulfilled previously agreed upon commitments. “The work stoppage is for 72 hours and is to protest their failure to meet the various obligations we negotiated (in recent contracts),” said labor leader Armando Soto.

The workers began their strike after last minute negotiations between city officials and Soto failed.

Only the mayors of four Santiago suburbs have honored the agreements made in 2003 between the city and the sanitation workers, Soto said.

The workers’ main demands include formalizing their contracts so that certain benefits are guaranteed in writing. These include guarantees related to the availability of hygiene services and facilities.

In Santiago’s working-class Maipu neighborhood streets are already incredibly dirty, with garbage piling up on street corners and certain plazas doubling as giant garbage bins.

Chile’s waste production made headlines earlier this year when a survey by Chile’s Ministry of Health found that only 14 of the country’s 156 garbage dumps complied with ministry regulations. To combat the problem, Chile’s National Environmental Commission is promoting a switch from open-pit dumps to covered landfill sites.

SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
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Ministry Implications for the Flinck Family:
-Sin will be everywhere (in piles out in the open and hidden in corners)
-It will stink and will be messy.
-The spiritual cleanup is possible through the finished work of Christ on the cross.
-Our supporting churches and individuals must not go "on strike", but continue to pray and participate in the greatest clean-up project ever created (The Plan of Salvation or The Gospel).
-As we prepare to go to Chile and serve, pray that we will continue to see the big picture of God's plan of salvation and life changing power, and not be side-tracked by all the stinky piles of spiritual garbage right in front of us.