Around mid last year I found myself living somewhere remote. It was a tough life. No running water. No indoor plumbing. Naughty and undisciplined kids. A house and kitchen which never stayed clean no matter how many times I cleaned etc. etc.
I had never been in that situation before in my life. I knew village life could be very tough but nothing prepared me for what I saw. Most people had no electricity and no television. The only store to buy goods was far. That proved to be a bit of a challenge for me.The kids who lived with the old lady I was staying with showered in the river maybe once a week. Without soap that is, and they did really tough house chores everyday sometimes to a point where I felt my heart ache for them.
The only adult in charge of them (grandma) didn’t really have time to supervise anything they did because she was too busy with chores of her own and countless errands and without forgetting, farming.
Right behind the house was a cow to supply milk which provided an income for the old lady. The cow shed was so near the house that the odor was right there in the house with us. Don’t get me started with the noise the cow made when she wasn’t fed on time..
This experience opened my eyes as to how the majority of people in my country are living compared with the working class few. I saw how hard people worked every day just to earn very little to survive and how it didn’t seem to depress or affect them much.
One morning I was up very early at 6 am and the view surrounding the house was breathtaking. It was foggy, with the sun just starting to come up and there were sounds of birds chirping. My English is not perfect so I don’t know how to else to put it into words. Believe me it was beautiful.
I don’t know if I mentioned but we took baths in the river and my first time in the water, I didn’t want to come out. It felt like a long over due holiday for me. I’m a simple gal okay?
As was swimming and enjoying the water someone mentioned that sometimes there were snakes in there probably taking a swim just as I was. She said it so casually like it was nothing to her coming across snakes. I was super scared and got out of the water so fast that I didn’t care who was looking at my behind Lol.
Anyway in that place nobody took the time to enjoy the view as they were busy farming so they could survive. And the river wasn’t enjoyed much by adults either. It had me thinking that sometimes we are so caught up with life that we forget to enjoy the little things that God gives to us for free.
Take a pause and be thankful.
Till next time. 🌻🌻
Here and there 