Sunday in Kampala


“What seems right can turn out wrong; what appears good can end up bad. Just when everything is going smoothly, chaos breaks things up. The task before us is to master our inner responses to the external world, our thoughts and emotions” Caroline Myss , author and one of my favourite teachers

Sunday in Kampala- football or church! I decided to go walking against my host’s wishes. I think I can fall in as a Ugandan once I keep my mouth shut! I go walking in the district. I am in the village and viewing its preparation for the week ahead which to them means filling water by the pump or pipe which is always a walk away and washing (by hand). I stop by a house to take in the scenes, the children are playing and having fun, laughing and joking around, not a care in the world. I am thinking to myself, gratitude is an extremely important virtue and so is giving back. Earlier this year at my house I had no water, there was a problem with the main pipes and WASA, the water authority, couldn’t find the problem leading to my house having no water. I was home and I was so moaning and cussing about WASA and saying some not so nice things! Did I ever have to walk up my very steep hill to ever fill a yellow bottle of water place it on my head and walk 5 miles? No. Did I ever have to wash by hand in a basin that’s so small that my two feet can’t fit in there comfortably? No. Did I have to use that small amount of water for a week to make it stretch? No! Gratitude and taking things for granted. Put things into perspective right there!!!  

So what did I learn today?
So the question is not: Why start off on such a path? You have already started off. You did so with the first beat of your heart. The question is: Do I wish to walk this path consciously, or unconsciously? With awareness or lack of awareness? As the cause of my experience, or at the effect of it?
Peace!

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