Thanksgiving under the culvert

I have driven down this lonely, dusty, bumpy road many times. Today, I saw two ladies under a culvert we had just driven past. I asked Lawrence, our driver, to back up to see if anyone was hurt. We stopped right on top of the culvert and we both got out to see what was happening. There they were, the two ladies bent over into the culvert. They were collecting the little leftover water from inside of the culvert in a green jug and pouring it into this 20 litre container. They were thankful that there was a little water left and no one nearby had discovered it. They were thankful that there was enough for two weeks. They were thankful that they only needed to walk 2 KM. They were thankful that they didn’t have to walk 5 KM. They were thankful that with water so close by, their children could be left alone. They were happy.

I departed making a few phone calls to see how to get water to this village and just then my Canadian friends sent me a note wishing me Happy Thanksgiving. I had just celebrated thanksgiving under the culvert with two strangers.

– Eric Rajah writing from Kenya