Hi Folks,
It’s sunny today, and yet, the sunshine is not able to blot out the cold cold wind. Life is like that. Sometimes we wake up, all snug in our feathers, open one eye, and smile as the sun greets us with a kiss. (we’ve not yet ventured outside).
ooooow how warm the bed is, how deliciously comfy, and we know we have to get out of bed to start yet another day, and even though the heaters are on, they are no match for your warm bed. What to do? Be brave.
So now grumpy, you pull back the covers of your gorgeous, best in the world bed, and it’s cold out there!! WT? So you quickly hovel over to the shower making weird noises, and turn the handle to ‘hot’. Bad move! you burn yourself, and…………..ok, it’s going to be a crappy day, and all because your bed was so warm! Blame it on the bed, but never take the blame yourself! nah, we’re too wimpy for that. LOL…
It only gets worse.
You get the temperature in the shower to suit, and you just stand there, loving the warmth (at this stage, I’m wondering if we are secretly lizards disguised as people). You reach for the shampoo, lather it into your hair, and the water starts to slowly cool off. nooooooo! you scream, not now!
Turns out that your flatmate had a gloriously long shower before you, and forgot to reset the element!! Your grumpy has now become an earthquake of magnitude 9.7 and your screaming can be heard throughout the entire building. If anyone, I mean anyone knew what it took to just get to the shower, they’d understand, but no one cares, no ones gives a flying f**k, and you have to wipe the soap off of your face, hair lathered in shampoo, put your gown on (you don’t dry yourself, you’re in a state of emergency), run down the stairs and reset the stupid shower. This will take about 10 minutes to warm up, your head is getting colder, and you’ve found yourself staring at the floor, at a piece of dirt. Meaningless dirt. You can’t move, you don’t want to move, and it’s at this time, that the thoughts of refugees swirl around your brain.
You wonder whether you could in fact, sign up to work on a volunteer basis, which would entail, cleaning bedpans, sweeping and washing floors, helping with the cooking, doing all the menial work that has to be done to keep each camp spotless, as disease and death are rife in these camps. Changing dirty nappies, and/or clothing constantly and washing poo off bodies, off sick bodies, off crying, sad, lonely, scared bodies would be an everyday occurrence. How much love do you have in you? Patience, kindness and love are the most important part of this job. And you do not get paid a cent for what you do.
Babies cry continuously, and perhaps you’d be expected to comfort little dirty snotty nosed children. This would mean getting your clothing dirty all the time, and perhaps you’d not be able to bath in a tin bucket with very little water for days, if water is scarce. The water is not hot, it comes as it comes, and you would have to learn gratitude for everything!
Learning to do what the men do in terms of running the camp, looking after roads, etc. You have to learn exactly how to run the camp, as you’ve got to be prepared for anything.
However, in saying all of this, here you sit, shower cold, but your apartment is warm, thanks to heaters. You think of a ‘make believe’ little boy called ‘Sipho’. He is standing in front of you in tattered clothing, soaking wet, on the plains of africa, and begs if he can share your gown. Right there and then, the tears start rolling down your cheeks. A sadness that you’ve never known before, grips your heart and squeezes. You realise how your tantrum over the seeming cold, was totally pathetic. In fact, you feel embarrassed.
Something inside of you, carries on with this make believe story that has come to you, seemingly out of nowhere. So you take your gown off and put it onto the settee for Sipho. You now feel the cold, but you also feel gratitude that you have heaters. As gratitude sinks in, you desperately want to clothe Sipho, so, you’ve long forgotten what you look like, or that you are shivering, you get your laptop out to investigate how you can help. You have nothing to stay in the City for, and you realise that your life is meaningless.
You find the people you are looking for, call them, and they grant you an appointment. They want to know all about you, and you want to spill every bean to the last drop!
Sipho stays with you. He’s become your imaginary friend.
The next thing you know, you’re on a flight to Ethiopia, and what greets you is so horrific, your heart shrinks back. God, how that ‘warm bed’ seems ever so ridiculous now! If you could take all of these images, which are real, and save them all, you’d give your life..
//www.flickr.com/photos/cynici/1513696758/
Watching the video, and seeing this picture brings home the reality of what is actually going on in our world. TradeRoutz livingStyle, continue to support the underprivileged Africans, by continuously purchasing their goods which we then sell onto you, our valued customers, as they don’t have a chance of feeding their children, having a home, or even dressing without support.
Our story ends with you having found your purpose in life, and it’s got nothing to do with warm beds, shampoo, or heaters, but rather everything to do with loving others and helping where you can. You’re a hero. Thank you.
With love
Deborah x
Deb@crazyandsane 