NEVER TAKE LIFE FOR GRANTED

I’ve had a reflective week this week as things swirl in and around my life.  I have learned the hard way that I cannot always count on others to respect my feelings, even if I respect theirs.  Being a good person doesn’t always guarantee that others will be good people too.  In saying that, everyone has bad days and bad weeks but when you put things into perspective, you sometimes just need to suck up those ‘bad days’ and see the sun poke out of the dark clouds.  I think living on the continent of Africa, it makes you MORE aware of the good things you have in your life and makes the ‘bad days’ not look so bleak, as you take a look around your environment.  I have a roof over my head, I have food in my fridge, I have my Kenyan family, my Australian/worldwide friends and I also have my health.  So what is there to complain about, and you are right.  In 99% of African countries that would be considered a life of privilege. 

When I drive around the surrounding suburbs, where a lot of important people live and also a large percentage of foreign people, when it is rubbish day, you see locals walking with their own trash bags as they scrimmage through some-ones else’s trash to see if there is anything of use or that can be sold.  It is a stark reality and makes you thankful for your own life to the core.  When I drive to Elsabe’s in the afternoon the local school children are coming out of school, and they have mismatched shoes, torn uniforms and who knows what they are going home to or how long it takes them to walk home-but you know what, they are like any other child at that point and they are laughing with their friends, playing chasey, running and enjoying the same sunshine that I try and see the silver lining to some days. 

Poverty in Africa refers to the lack of basic human needs faced by certain people in African society. African nations typically fall toward the bottom of any list measuring small size economic activity, such as income per capita or GDP per capita, despite a wealth of natural resources. In 2009, 22 of 24 nations identified as having "Low Human Development" on the United Nations' (UN) Human Development Index were in Sub-Saharan Africa.  In 2006, 34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries are in Africa.  In many nations, GDP per capita is less than USD$200 per year, with the vast majority of the population living on much less. In addition, Africa's share of income has been consistently dropping over the past century by any measure. In 1820, the average European worker earned about three times what the average African did. Now, the average European earns twenty times what the average African does.  Perspective.  There are people who have never stepped foot out of their country and will never have the means to do so.  EVER.  There are certain things we take for granted, that over 1 billion people on the African continent would see as a luxury.  Perspective.   

I have been speaking to my local friends over the last few months and to hear their stories, the pain and suffering that they have gone through, you would not guess it after meeting them at face value.  One of my friends was gang raped when she was 12 and another one had both his parents die when he was 13 and you look at them, my friends, and wonder where they got the strength to move forward in their lives.  But you know what?  They did.  They have their own families now to raise, and care for them the best way they know how and that is how the world revolves.  There are survivors of Westgate, and people who lost friends and family, children die from lack of clean drinking water, people die from treatable malaria, and it gives you some perspective.  Of Nairobi's 3.14 million inhabitants at night, a number that swells to about 5 million during the day, only about 50 per cent have direct access to piped water.  FIFY PERCENT HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO PIPED WATER.  That means there are over 1.5 million people that obtain their water from kiosks, vendors, illegal connections and or from wells. Only about 40 per cent of those with access to piped water receive water 24 hours per day.  You do the best you can with what you have, it is all that you can ask of yourself or anybody else.  Some-one always has a story in their life, some of them you will hear and others will never share their experiences, and that is okay.  But just because someone has a smile on their face doesn’t mean that they don’t have some pain, some form of history that has shaped the person they have become.  The whole African continent and its people may not have much, but they make the most of what they have, they are a proud people, they love their country, their god and their families and this is what gives me hope and makes me thankful each and every day for my own life.  The happiest people don’t have the best of everything.  They just make the best of everything.  How true.

So my point to this entry?

When you think you are having a bad day, or a bad week, I want you to think-is it really that bad?  One of my most used quotes is that ‘there is always someone worse off than you’, and it is true, to the core.  I don’t wish to make anyone’s bad day seem trivial, but don’t hold onto that bad day and don’t take it out on other people.  Life is too short to worry and sweat about the small stuff and your character is made up of how you handle situations and how you move forward.  This is what makes a person, no matter on the balance of your bank account, the colour of your skin, where you were born or what you do for a job.       

Yep, I’ve had a pretty bad week.  I am stressed and emotionally drained, but re-reading the above paragraphs it puts everything back in its place for me and I start the new week with a positive attitude, my head held high and patience for things to work out with time and for things to become clear.  I know it all sounds a little coat and dagger, and hopefully I will be able to share my story eventually, not matter what the outcome, but for now, I need to be confident.  Too many days are wasted comparing ourselves to others and wishing to be something we aren’t.  Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is only when you accept everything you are-and aren’t-that you will truly succeed.  Never take life for granted.  I seem to preach this a lot, but you just never know what is around the corner and you don’t want to live with any regrets.  Trust me on that.

My advice. 

Pay it forward.  Do something nice for some-one and here are some suggestions:

To your enemies, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.