Now that I’m getting a bit older and not able to sleep through the night as often as I’d like, I have to get up at least once to use the bathroom (ok, maybe too much information but hey it’s life!). This happened just the other night and when I crawled back into bed I realized this experience would be quite different in our Tala, Kenya home. Read for yourself…
United States – wake up, throw the covers off, put my feet on the carpet, walk to the bathroom in the dark, use the toilet, flush, wash and dry my hands, stumble back to bed and fall asleep (sometimes quickly, sometimes not so quickly)
Kenya – wake up and ponder whether I could wait until morning to use the toilet, wake up Chuck because this is a two person operation (you’ll see that in just a moment), search for the torch (flashlight) on the head of the bed, use the flashlight to search the mosquito net for any unwanted 4, 6, 8 or however many legged “visitors” on the outside of the net. If a bug is found we then have a quick competition (each night we take turns!) to see who can hit it the hardest and furthest across the room, then we begin untucking the net (because after first getting into bed we meticulously tuck in the net so no “visitors” come inside with us), use the torch to search the ground and our slippers/flipflops to make sure we aren’t going to step on any of those bugs, continue using the torch as we make our way to the bathroom, and make sure Chuck ducks at a certain point where the beam is low so he isn’t knocked unconscious. Once at the toilet Chuck does his business quite rapidly (there is something to be said for standing up!), then we search around/under/in the toilet to make sure I’m not going to sit on any bugs or one isn’t going to bite me (yup every time I’m a bit apprehensive about using the toilet), then flush the toilet (if we have water at the time), wash our hands and use sanitizer (again, if we have water, if not then it’s just sanitizer), search the towel to make sure no bugs crawled on it and dry our hands, find our way back to bed (using the torch to make sure the path is clear) and begin the task of retucking the net. Then we usually fall asleep from such a mentally taxing journey to use the toilet!
We do, however, feel blessed to have what we have in Tala because most of the families we know either have an outdoor latrine or no toilet at all (using the great outdoors). And this isn’t meant to sound complaining, just one of many examples of how life is different. But you know what, the Lord has given me grace to deal with these differences and I look forward to not only living life with our Kenyan family but by His grace showing those around us the love of Christ through difficult and/or uncomfortable situations.
So please, every time you get up at night to use the bathroom, think of how blessed you are simply because of where you live.