40 Things I'm Thankful For

Day 5

Running Water

Last semester I went for a Religion curriculum meeting in the village of Chunox, in northern Belize, near the Mexican border.  When we arrived I wondered where the students that attend this school live.  The school itself is seemingly in the middle of nowhere on a dirt/rocky road (not unusual for here) but there were no houses in site.  The 125 students (grade 9-12) come in everyday from where they live even farther out than the where the school is.  We had our meeting in the Food Processing (home ec) room and we all passed the bug spray around because the mosquitoes were fierce.  We got some strange looks from the students and I wondered if they had seen many white people around there.  None of this surprised me.  It's probably surprising to people in the states, but you get kind of used to it when you live here.  It wasn't until I asked where the restroom was and I was directed to a dirt path behind the school that I was surprised...

I was immediately thankful for what I have at Mt. Carmel High School!   I often complain about the lack of resources at our school.  But after visiting Chunox I hold my tongue.  I know there are many families who don't have running water in their homes, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that there are schools without running water.  No matter where you are, you don't realize what you have until you witness people who have less than you.  So this Lent I'm thankful for running water, at home and at school (that means no complaining about not having hot water!)

yes, these are the staff bathrooms!  

the students' bathrooms look the same from the outside but I'm sure they're worse on the inside :)