The Little Bottle
It is so beautiful in London at the moment. Like summer is waking. Michael and I met for dinner after work and then walked home along the river. Couples and friends sat with beer on the bank. The sun hung low and hazy in the sky and it was so unusually stunning that I had to keep looking across at it over the water. There was a very fine sheath of cloud covering it which made it possible to look at. It was a perfect circle and absolutely citrus. Just an exquisite orange which seemed to bleed out onto the river. Ripples of amber.
What I feel to share relates to an interview I did yesterday. A few weeks ago I received a package in the post at work and inside was a tiny bottle. Inside this bottle was liquid. Brown, filthy liquid. A letter was with it asking the question “would you give this to your family to drink?” The answer, “in the UK, you would not even consider it. In many countries of the developing world, you would have no choice.” 
The interview was about water. The abundance and freshness of it in the West; the lack and filth of it in these particular countries in Africa. What gripped me most amidst all that was said were the personal, individual stories. There was one very little girl who rose at 2am to walk 14 miles to carry 20kgs on her head of contaminated brown water back to her family to meet their daily needs.
Sometimes I can’t reconcile that we share the same planet as people who live with this kind of reality. Our worlds, our experience, our priorities are so far removed it is unnerving.
What I found hopeful was the work of this Christian charity in responding to this need. The thing is that we are Christ’s Body here and now. We action His heart. As the poor and the widows and the orphans are His heart, so too can these people be ours. When others ask us, “there is no God, why would He allow this suffering?” We can say, “there is a God and He is working through us to help take it away.”
The other thing is thankfulness. Father, never let me take for granted those things that seem so basic in my life, when actually I am extravagantly blessed to have them.
A few years ago whilst serving in the Far East. I too saw how valuable a drop of water can be in very high temperatures, As you say Birgit we take our water for granted whist others are dying for the lack of it. Babies are very vunerable in these circumstances. we are blessed to live in a country that does not have such shortages. The Samaritan not only saw to saw to the wounds of the man who lay in distress, he must have shared his water bottle. That was grace in operation, while religous went passed him by.
Translation( it is not my concern) sound of Western thoughts?.
Wow, that is really powerful Birget. I hope that your ‘readers’ will grab a hold of that and actively begin to do something. ‘Imagine if everyone did just one thing and sustained it, to help one person break out of the grip of poverty – We could change the world we live in’…. This is on a flyer we received at church when we were encouraging individuals to make a difference in the lives of those you are talking about Birget, the little girl who walked 20km. Let God be the solution to these circumstances, for that to happen we as His children, have to become His hands and feet!!!
Drinks companies don’t help, by building factories in these areas, and consuming huge quantities of water. I seem to recall seeing a famous fizzy drinks manufacturer, located in one of these regions, as it increased their P&L (profit & loss accounts) and the expense of the local population. Money should not be allowed to purchase huge quanities of water in these areas, where the impact on the local communites is adverse. Water is more precious than all the money in the world.
Back at home in the UK, more and more land is being converted into housing, without considering if the local water infrastructure can take it. Hose pipe bans will increase, as we consume more water than is replenished, and not too far into the future, the sitation in the west will be as bad as the east.