In his book, Thirst, Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, tells the story of Letikiros, who lived in Meda, a small village in northern Ethiopia. Four days per week this 13 year-old girl would strap a 10 pound clay pot on her back and join the other women of the village on the arduous journey to Arliew Spring, the village’s only source of water. At evening she would stumble home, exhausted, to deliver the precious gift to her family.
One day, alone on the trail, Letikiros apparently stumbled and fell. The clay pot struck the ground and broke, spilling the water. Distraught and ashamed, Letikiros took the rope she used to tie the pot to her back and hung herself from a tree – at thirteen!
As I read this story my heart broke for Letikiros and her family. A thirteen year-old should not have to endure such hardship. Yet, I know there are hundreds of thousands of people who, just like Letikiros, struggle everyday just to survive.
We are so blessed in Western society. Hardship for us is having to wait an extra 5 minutes at the drive-thru. I waste more water on my daily shower than Letikiros was able to carry on her back. I drink water in the morning then her family drank in a day.
This morning, as you turn on your faucet to get a drink of water and as you scrub up in the shower, thank God for the blessing of water. Praise Him for His goodness to you. And remember God gave you all this for a reason. You have been “enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…” 2 Corinthians 9:11.
God has blessed us so we can bless others. We each can make a difference for people like Letikiros. We will never get rid of all the suffering in the world, but if each do our part we can change a life. Please do what you can today.
God bless and have a great day!
While Letikiro’s story is very sad and heartbreaking, she did live in a sinful
Environment purely the result of our original parent’s rejection of God’s life assuring choice. Therefore neither she nor any other human descendant deserves to even be alive, much less to not be subjected to suffering. Our very existence MOMENT BY MOMENT is entirely possible only because of God’s grace. To suggest otherwise, when we are subjected to what appears to be “unfair”suffering, implies God is treating us undeservingly.
Thank you Helmuth for your insights. I agree that our existence is possible only because of God’s grace. Letikiro’s suffering and that of so many others in this world is in no way a result of God treating us undeservingly. It is a result of human’s past and continued poor choices, our greed, and our failure to care for our environment and our fellow human beings. I’m afraid there is a tendency, however, especially among Christians, to throw up our hands and do nothing, declaring, “Oh well, at least this will all be over when Jesus comes.” We forget we have a work to do now, “to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn,and provide for those who grieve in Zion…” Is. 61:1, 2. As James said, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” While we acknowledge the cause of sin and look forward to its final destruction, we must also do all we can to help those who suffer from its effects on our world. Thanks again for your comments. You always make me think.