The other half

I live in Africa.

In a children's center.

With electricity.

And thankfully, since it's over 110 today, with a fan by my bedside that keeps me cool.
There's running water.

It's safe to drink right from my faucet.

I can have hot water (for showers) when we aren't out of gas.

I have a stove to cook food on and even a microwave.

A toaster too.

I have a fridge.

I have a roof over my head, that only leaks a little when it pours.

I have a cement floor.

I have 3 rooms to my "house," including an indoor bathroom.

I share a washing machine.

There's a generator for when the city electricity isn't working.

I have internet (really slow and not all the time, but i have it).

I almost all the time have credit on my cell phone.

I have access to a car for getting where I might need to go.

I am blessed.

I live simply, but richly, compared to the other half.

They live in tiny houses.
With one room.

Smaller than a car.

Made simply out of reeds.

The mice eat the straw roof because it is their home.

It leaks when it rains.

There is no electricity.

No running water.

In fact, there's no water safe to drink for miles.

And there are no cars to go get that water.

And you have to pay for the water.

Only some people have a latrine.

No beds.

Just hard ground.

There's bugs.

Lots of bugs.

Did i mention the mice?

There's not always food.

Only when the harvest is good and there's rain.

The soil is sand.

There's no kitchen.

There's not a stove.

No gas either.

There's fire.

When you can find (or buy) wood.

It takes a long time to cook over a tiny fire.

Hours.

And it takes a lot of work to prepare the food.

I'm grinding nuts.

By hand.

No chairs to sit on.

No shelter or relief from the sun.

Just candlelight to dine by.

With good friends.

Cause you share the food you have.

Tonight there was actually chicken.

(Cause we bought and brought it to bless them).

And fruit.

Very (very, very) tart, wierd african fruit.

There's no where to store the food.

So we eat it the next morning.

For breakfast.

You eat when you have food.

And there's friends.

We're family.

That's all there is here: LOVE.

Cause sometimes there isn't enough.

And it's not fair.

But it's reality for them.