Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Paradigm Shift

From time to time, I let myself dwell on a woman who lives across the world.  She has no clue who I am.  I don't even know if she is still alive.  Her story is very close to my heart, a gift from God.  The nameless, faceless woman haunts me.  It is not because she scares me, but because I don't know if I could do what she does. 

Her daily task is walking miles to find something we all take for granted ... dirt.  Clean dirt as opposed to the toxic, waste-ridden kind she resides on.  She carries this clean dirt back home and sells it.  You see, there's a high demand for clean dirt in Kibera. Why?  Well, it's not to grow vegetables or to plant flowers. 

She sell the dirt to mothers ... who bring the dirt home and feed it to their children so tummies won't feel so hungry.  What else can a mother do to keep her child comfortable as she knows he/she will soon die of starvation? 

Self-entitlement is such an ugly thing.