Shelly Klassen, along with her husband Kim, and several other friends visited us in Nairobi in April of 2011. Below are some of her observations and a little bit about how the trip here has IMPACTED her life, her thinking and her perception since being here in Kenya.
Liquid Assets
By Shelley Klassen
It has been very hot and muggy these last few days in Saskatoon. I don't do hot and muggy very well so last night my husband "mopped" me up off the floor and took me out for ice-cream to revive me. Dear man...such sacrifice!
Oddly, whenever I indulge in anything ice-cream related I tend to get thirsty so I requested a water as well. It came in a large cup, very cold, very refreshing.
We had some shopping to do so,after finishing my ice-cream, I took a couple swallows and stood to leave. As I reached down to pick up my purse my eyes fell upon that cup of water...just sitting there...mostly full...and thats when it hit me. How much is that cup of water worth? It didn't cost me anything and I won't miss it when I leave. Some young teen-ager, working for a living, will come along, pick it up and dump the water down the drain. No big deal...right?
Thats what I would have thought five months ago...before my eyes were opened...before Africa.
What I saw last night when I looked at that cup of water were the faces of the many children in the slums of Nairobi.Faces of children who are hungry and thirsty every day, children whose parents are forced to give them gutter water filled with filth and human feces because there is no money to purchase clean, healthy water.What is a cup of water worth? To these children, more than can be imagined.
Since our missions trip to Kenya with Mission:180 I have changed in many ways.I used to put my leftover pasta in the fridge where it would sit until it became a solid, gelatinous mass which I would then toss into the trash. Now I cannot justify the waste, not when I have seen the faces of hunger up close and personal. My husband jokes that I am trying to starve him because the fridge is much emptier than it used to be. In reality, I am simply using up what I have before making something new.I now compost what is left over.
While watering my plants the other day it struck me, as with the glass of water, how I was wasting this clean water that would be deemed so precious in Kenya. We now have a rain barrel and I water with the accumulated rainwater instead.
These simple changes may seem silly to those of you reading this, after all, they aren't going to make much difference in Africa. True enough, but they make a difference to me.
You see, when I make the choice to not waste my water and food I am, in my own way, standing with the beautiful Kenyan people that I met in Africa. I am telling them that I have seen the great needs in their country and I will not squander away that which is so precious and lifegiving to them...just because I can. I will value the many blessings that are mine everyday ...and thank God for each one of them.
The upside to these new "frugal" changes that I have made? The little bit of money that I save I can now send to Kenya and a little child there will not be hungry or thirsty...at LEAST for a day or two.
You CAN"T put a pricetag on that.
No comments:
Post a Comment