A new week

The laundry is done and hanging on the line.... The dishes are being washed.... And in neither case did I have to get my hands wet! How much easier is life for me today than it was for the last generation.

Those two jobs would have been done first thing on Monday in nearly every household in the land but the work involved suds to the uxters and much physical effort. Wet towels and sheets were folded and fed through the mangle before being pegged to the line. Sometimes that required the muscles of a weightlifter to turn the handle and squeeze out the last drops of water. Buttons not folded to the inside were liable to snap off as they hit the rollers.

However, the thing that's been on my mind this morning is the sheer quantity of water that has gone down the plug holes. It makes me think of our friends in Kajiado Diocese (and others in similar situations) where every drop of water is precious. These are places where you'd shower as well as wash your hair in half a basin of water and no tap runs while teeth are cleaned. Kitchen water is used in the garden. Here we thoughtlessly use gallons and waste much, much more.

We can't "send our water" but we can support those who are working to make a fairer society where the earth's resources are shared. We can't all go to dig wells but we can contribute to those who are already there working to provide such a basic resource to people who have little of this world's goods. And we can look for fairly traded goods, resisting the temptation to buy roses that are produced by multi-nationals who take more underground water than they should in order to irrigate huge flower farms in countries like Kenya.

Life here is easy when you look back just thirty or forty years. Life here is unbelievably easy when you compare it to rural Kajiado in Kenya. I turn on a tap and get water instantly - and I can choose whether it is hot or cold. Friends in Kenya walk many miles to obtain a small supply of less than pure water which then must be carried all that distance home. I am "thankful for all the blessings of this life...."