Tanzania

Tanzania
Mikumi National Park

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Spit splat, sputter...

You would think that in a country where there is little electricity and few people have cars that it would be peaceful and quiet. Nope! LOUD LOUD LOUD!!! So this morning I awoke to a strange sound. Spit, spit, sputter. OFF. Spit, sputter, off. You see my husband is terribly considerate. Sputter, sputter.

What was it? Water. Or should I say, lack thereof.  We have run out of water AGAIN. I can pull up my grown-up panties and say that doing without power is OK, (we have actually had very little outages lately) but WATER. Really! So what does it effect? I mean it isn't like you can drink it. We don't even brush our teeth with it because, well, we have seen a tub full of it. Eeek. (So looking forward to a hot bath in a tub of clean water and my jetted {spelling word yesterday} tub.)

It means:
1. Running around telling your kids not to flush the toilet. (bet that has never come out of your mouth!)

2. No washing hands.
3. No washing dishes. (and by that I mean our housekeeper, living in poor countries does have its advantages :)
4. No cleaning fruit that we just bought at the gate.
5. A million reminders to be thankful.

It always comes back to thankfulness for me. I am thankful that this is a rare occurrence for me. It happens to my friend Shonna often. In many areas of our country people have to walk hours, daily, to get the water they need for cooking and drinking. I have plenty of bottled water sitting in the storage room. Clean, pure, disease free drinking water. This is only a temporary position for us and can return to the US and drink water out of the tap. Heck, we use drinking water to wash our bodies, clothes and flush our toilets. Explain that to this continent and they will think you are crazy!!!

So as my kids watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and my oldest still rests in her cozy bed covered in a mosquito net, and I hear screeching (LOUD SCREECHING) of the birds; I marvel at God's creation and give thanks with a thankful heart.