BYB Sunday: Hot Showers and Flushing Toilets

My mom and brother went to Africa for a few weeks with a team of people several years ago. Their African hosts welcomed them with open arms, feeding them every place they went whether or not they had just eaten. They came back with many stories--particularly bathroom stories.

Toilets consisted of holes in the ground where they had to strategically place their footing and balance while doing their business. Discreetness was minimal.

At first chance to bathe, their hosts offered hot showers--the royal treatment which they reserved for guests. Thrilled about a hot shower, they accepted. Their leader shook his head and headed for a cold shower. The rest of the team waited for a pot of cold water to heat over an open fire which they discovered made a very long wait for barely tepid water. They quickly learned to take fast, cold showers if they wanted to be clean.

The first thing my mom wanted to do when she returned home was take a hot shower. It was no surprise that she rejoiced for the next month over plain toilets--even those scummy by society's standards.

As a result of my mom's stories, I have keen appreciation for hot water flowing down my head at the turn of a knob. I never want to take it, or my one flushing toilet among eight people, for granted.

On this Blog Your Blessings Sunday, think about this: Right now someone is squatting over a poop-splattered hole while another briskly rubs his body under a cold trickle. How blessed are we with modern bathroom facilities.