Its the Simple Things

We are almost half way through the trip and I’m finding myself in a pretty tough place. I’m sat here trying to understand the injustice of this world. Why is it fair that even in a place with such poverty, I come here and live in blessing yet I’m surrounded by people living in a curse. When I say blessing and curse, I’m talking material things rather than spiritual.

Everyday at home and in Cochabamba, I wake up in a bed, with a roof over my head, access to water and food on the table. Before this trip I saw these things as just the basics of life, far from luxuries. Rarely did I ever stop to appreciate the basics. This trip is reminding me everyday that in so many places, not just in Bolivia but across the world people would feel so blessed to have these basic things that we take for granted.

Close to the centre I work at, is this rubbish dump. If I could take a picture every time I saw someone rummaging in it, I would have hundreds by now.

I often look at it and think; what would anyone want from this smelly, infested dump of other people’s rubbish? Yet, day after day I see people looking through this tip as if they are searching for some kind of ‘blessing.’ Bizarre as this may sound, it seems that for some, a good rubbish dump can be the best shopping spree in the world.

I struggle with this image everyday as I ask myself the same question..how is it fair that we have so much yet these people have so little?

In the UK, it seems like we’ve got to a point where the closest many of us get to going without is not owning a tv or dvd player, not having the latest fashions, or not having the internet at home or the latest Iphone or technological craze. Then I come to Bolivia and see people blessed by peoples rubbish, eating whatever they can find in the closest bin. I see children living and working on the streets, children who would give anything to go to school and receive an education.

Yet back home, most young people can’t wait to leave school. They place no value on education and would rather bunk off than actually go to school. If all else fails there’s always the dole, and how sad this reality is. People here work so hard all day, every day, to get a fraction of what we get. It is heartbreaking to know that our lives would be so different, had I or the children I see, been born in a different country.

I come back to the same questions in my mind; how is this fair? Where is the justice? On one side of the world we have more than enough, then on the other side, they have no where near the basics, never mind enough.

The most difficult thing so far about this trip for me, is not all these heartbreaking images I see, but the complete contrast of how I live my life and how blessed I am compared to the people I’m around. It seems wrong that I can live the way I do and have the luxuries I have which I take for granted, and yet there’s so much strife and suffering elsewhere.
We have so much in the UK that most of the time we don’t even consider its value. It can be easy to become complacent. I am reminded most days to value all I have, as little as it may seem. Many places across the world, Bolivia being one of them, see our basics as strived for luxuries, that very few people have.

I guess what I’m trying to say is…Value what you have and be thankful everyday for even the smallest things. When times get tough remind yourself of these images I’m trying to paint for you. Extreme poverty is real, it’s not just something we see on the news. It’s real people, living real lives. Value the life you live. We have it better than so many others!