If You Can Go to Your Tap and Fill Your Glass With Fresh Safe Water, You Are Very Privileged Indeed
Do you know anything of the joy of going to the fridge and taking a bottle of cold clear water? Each morning in Kampala, Uganda, I would take three or four bottles of water which would be enough to see me out during the day in the jungle.
The drive to where I would be teaching at the Pastors and Leaders Seminar might be an hour and a half all depending upon the road conditions in central Kampala.
Each day I was away out in the bush.
It was wonderful and beautiful and challenging.
And, it was such an honour to teach these people who had travelled miles.
Never before had I seen such traffic.
Cars, busses, motorcycles, pushbikes, lorries, and people would struggle for supremacy to get round the roundabouts.
How they did it I do not know! I did not eat during the ten hours I would be away.
I stuck with my bottles of water.
Teaching three one and a half hour sessions in the ninety degree heat to leaders who so wanted to listen was a joy and a privilege.
As long as I had water I was all right.
Then I learned of rich countries building indoor ski slopes in the middle of scorching deserts and I wondered how anyone could so misuse their riches.
Sin is serious no matter what form it takes! Some two out of five people around the world are denied access to good sanitation and many have to walk miles each day for water.
I was all right during my two week teaching stint.
I could afford to buy water and have the luxury of having it placed in a small cooler.
When I returned at night after an exhausting but exhilarating day with around one hundred leaders all I have to do was open the door of the little fridge and help myself to another bottle of water.
While out of a short walk just a few hundred yards from the Pastor's Kampala home I saw three little children walking with large yellow containers to the nearest burn to fill up with water for the next 24 hours.
The burns were certainly not clean and this left those consuming that water to all kinds of disease.
Every minute three children under five die because of the lack of clean clear water.
Do you not think something should be done about this immediately? Is there anyone reading this piece who is in a governmental position with authority to take action regarding this appalling situation.
Physical and spiritual thirst is a serious issue.
I was teaching about Jesus Christ and seeking to speak to leaders on the topic of responsibility for their community and nation and they are doing what they can with very limited resources.
I was most impressed with the men I met.
My bottle of water was very very precious.
When I go to the tap in Scotland and drink a glass of water it is very very precious.
If you can do something about this will you do it? It may not make you popular and you may lose some promotion because you do not keep quiet about these circumstances but surely there are people with sufficient courage who will stand up for those who have no sewers and who have to walk miles each day for water.
People talk about returning to the moon.
Yes, let's do that after everyone has a water pipe running fresh water to their village if not to their home.
If you can go to your tap and fill your glass with fresh safe water, you are very privileged indeed.
If you are in a desert area and on an artificial ski slope think again! Jesus Christ had much to say about responsibility, and there is a day of judgment coming.
Sandy Shaw.
The drive to where I would be teaching at the Pastors and Leaders Seminar might be an hour and a half all depending upon the road conditions in central Kampala.
Each day I was away out in the bush.
It was wonderful and beautiful and challenging.
And, it was such an honour to teach these people who had travelled miles.
Never before had I seen such traffic.
Cars, busses, motorcycles, pushbikes, lorries, and people would struggle for supremacy to get round the roundabouts.
How they did it I do not know! I did not eat during the ten hours I would be away.
I stuck with my bottles of water.
Teaching three one and a half hour sessions in the ninety degree heat to leaders who so wanted to listen was a joy and a privilege.
As long as I had water I was all right.
Then I learned of rich countries building indoor ski slopes in the middle of scorching deserts and I wondered how anyone could so misuse their riches.
Sin is serious no matter what form it takes! Some two out of five people around the world are denied access to good sanitation and many have to walk miles each day for water.
I was all right during my two week teaching stint.
I could afford to buy water and have the luxury of having it placed in a small cooler.
When I returned at night after an exhausting but exhilarating day with around one hundred leaders all I have to do was open the door of the little fridge and help myself to another bottle of water.
While out of a short walk just a few hundred yards from the Pastor's Kampala home I saw three little children walking with large yellow containers to the nearest burn to fill up with water for the next 24 hours.
The burns were certainly not clean and this left those consuming that water to all kinds of disease.
Every minute three children under five die because of the lack of clean clear water.
Do you not think something should be done about this immediately? Is there anyone reading this piece who is in a governmental position with authority to take action regarding this appalling situation.
Physical and spiritual thirst is a serious issue.
I was teaching about Jesus Christ and seeking to speak to leaders on the topic of responsibility for their community and nation and they are doing what they can with very limited resources.
I was most impressed with the men I met.
My bottle of water was very very precious.
When I go to the tap in Scotland and drink a glass of water it is very very precious.
If you can do something about this will you do it? It may not make you popular and you may lose some promotion because you do not keep quiet about these circumstances but surely there are people with sufficient courage who will stand up for those who have no sewers and who have to walk miles each day for water.
People talk about returning to the moon.
Yes, let's do that after everyone has a water pipe running fresh water to their village if not to their home.
If you can go to your tap and fill your glass with fresh safe water, you are very privileged indeed.
If you are in a desert area and on an artificial ski slope think again! Jesus Christ had much to say about responsibility, and there is a day of judgment coming.
Sandy Shaw.
