Towards the end of 2012, the local water company in Ndola found a pervasive contamination. The resources to quickly rectify the situation do not exist in Zambia. Months later, most households are without running water, even those in neighborhoods that do not usually experience shortages. All must fetch water from local taps and carefully boil what they will drink or use for cooking.
Theresa reports that this has created great hardship for many. “But, here in Kantolomba, we are not disturbed,” she told me. “In fact, we are very lucky.” She went on to explain that folks in Kantolomba have never had running water and have always had to bring it back to their homes from a community source. Ever since the Living Compassion well went in in 2007, that water has been clean and safe. “We do not take water for granted here; it is a precious resource.”
I’m struck by the good fortune of being awake to the gifts in one’s life. Ego wants us to go to sleep to those gifts and find it a “problem” when they are not there. How lovely to live from a place where we remember the miracle of all we have.
Gasshō,
Jen