DAY TWO: ELECTRICITY

Part two of our Eight Days of Gratitude: Electricity

USA: Lights, electricity at the touch of a fingertip.

ST. THERESA HOSPITAL: Main-line electricity for “maybe” eight hours per day. Special Thanks for the people in Germany who donated a new generator for the hospital several years ago, allowing electricity “when urgently needed.”

SURROUNDING AREA: 95% of the rural homes do not have any electricity. Still, they are thankful for a hospital nearby that does have electricity, and the ability to use a generator for laboratory tests, x-rays, emergency surgery, etc.

Eight Days of Gratitude

As we celebrate Thanksgiving and the start of the Advent Season in the US, it gives me a chance to compare what WE might give thanks for and what the people around St. Theresa Hospital might give thanks for.

This post will be the first of eight reflecting on gratitude.

DAY ONE: WATER

USA: Clean, safe water from the tap “every time.”

ST. THERESA HOSPITAL: Clean, safe water “every time” – “as long as bore-holes function. “ Special Thanks to Shawano, WI Rotary Club for their efforts to help with a new borehole in 2010.

SURROUNDING AREA: Clean water at a pump borehole within one to 1½ mile of our home. Many have to use river water and then there is very high risk of water borne diseases (e.g. cholera) IF the water is not boiled.