I’m not a huge fan of the beaches in America—the nice ones are overcrowded and the others are dirty. It’s not worth it to me to get all packed up and head to the beach only to get sand everywhere. You know how most of them have those showers just before you get back onto the boardwalk for you to rinse off? Can you imagine that being your only source of a shower…ever?
We’ve officially been in the Philippines for over twenty-four hours now. This afternoon Jeff Long, our temporary host, was showing us around the community. They run a children’s home and a community center in addition to their own home which houses the five youngest orphans. As we approached the children’s home, Jeff pointed out the sinks and shower located on the outside wall of the gate. He explained that when they switched from city water to well water they had these two sinks and shower installed. City water is very expensive for the poor communities and getting a well is out of the question for several reasons. So people in the community may come to use the well water at any point. Water as a commodity? Where in America would you ever see water as a commodity to this degree? At all of the sites I have stayed so far, not one has been without a shower. Every day I am finding more and more that I take for granted.
*I actually wrote this a few days ago.
