FINAL BLOG – WHAT I’VE LEARNED AND WHAT I’M GRATEFUL FOR:
WHAT I’M GRATEFUL FOR:
This list continues to grow almost daily, so I know I’ll probably leave a lot out that I will yet think about. I’ve been taught that it is important to have an “attitude of gratitude”. I really believe that. This trip has confirmed that to me even more. As you read this list, I hope you will reflect on what you have in your life that you are grateful for. Perhaps this will help you think of things you’ve never really thought about being grateful for before. I hope it does!
1. Being an American citizen with inalienable rights.
2. Laws that say you are innocent until proven guilty.
3. Knowing that I can call “9-1-1” if I need medical assistance, have a fire in my home, need a police officer’s assistance for anything, or any other emergency. I don’t have to walk to a police station, stand in line for hours, and have to pay for the taxi to take a policeman to my home in order to report a crime. That happens in Kenya.
4. Even though there is corruption in this country, it’s nothing like what I’ve seen in Kenya and India.
5. I know that I won’t get thrown into jail just because someone felt like doing it and could bribe the police. (Not that I was planning on doing anything illegal – smile.)
6. I know that if I see someone who needs medial assistance on the side of the road or somewhere else, I can help them (even if it’s just to call 9-1-1), but that doesn’t mean I have to take on the full responsibility of taking care of them or paying for all their medical or death expenses. This also happens in Kenya.
7. I’m grateful that I don’t feel the need to create a “compound” to surround my home with a tall cement wall with broken glass bottles along the top and have to have a guard for my home and myself
8. I don’t have to put 11 padlocks on my doors in order to feel safe like I had on my home in Kenya. . I don’t feel like I’m in prison when I’m inside my home.
9. I can walk outside my home after dark and still feel safe – even if I am alone.
10. I can go anywhere I want and don’t feel I need a bodyguard with me to keep me safe – sometimes even during the day. I felt that way many times in Kenya, and even in India.
11. I have cement sidewalks to walk on when it rains, and I don’t have to worry about getting all muddy.
12. For the most part, most of the roads I drive on are paved and well- maintained. Even though in Utah, because of the expansion and contraction on the asphalt due to the extreme temperature changes, there is always some kind of roadwork taking place to fix the roads, at least they are getting fixed. I don’t have to dodge huge potholes continually while I drive, no matter where I go.
13. I’m grateful for big orange construction cones on the road with enough time to adjust where I am driving before I get to the construction and not just see a big log or branch in the middle of the road just barely before I hit the road work.
14. The sidewalks are well-maintained everywhere I go here, so I don’t have to literally be looking down all the time while I’m walking so I don’t trip and fall on a broken piece of cement or a sidewalk littered with garbage.
15. I’m thankful for car mechanics who usually are able to fix my car in only a few hours or a day at the most. In Kenya, if you take your car in to get fixed, you literally might not see it for six months!
16. I’m grateful to even have a car, and one that runs properly with seatbelts, nothing falling off the car as I drive, and a driver’s license. Also having the knowledge that most of the cars on the road are being driven by people who also have a driver’s license and actually know how to drive.
17. I’m grateful that people in the United States generally stay on their own side of the road when they drive and don’t just make up their own lanes and their own driving rules.
18. I’m grateful for painted lanes on our roads, and separate places for bicyclists and pedestrians to be. Also that I don’t have to dodge bikes, people pulling carts, matatus (public transportation vans in Kenya that stop anywhere and everywhere and pull out in traffic without looking), motorcycles weaving in and out everywhere, cows, goats, chickens, and people on the road while I am driving.
19. It’s nice to drive on a road where you aren’t constantly hearing horns blaring warning other cars, people, motorcycles, etc. that they are being passed.
20. I’m thankful for pedestrian rights and know that if I step out on the street in a pedestrian lane, most likely the cars will stop for me rather than run me over.
21. I’m grateful for medications and shots that kept me from getting malaria and other diseases. Also grateful that antibiotics have been developed to help stop the progression of leprosy.
22. I’m grateful that I can just walk into a store, read the price tag, and know what something costs. I don’t have to barter for everything I buy.
23. I’m thankful that I have a car that can drive me to the grocery store (or anywhere else for that matter), and I don’t have to walk, take a taxi, matatu, tuktuk, ferry, metro, motorcycle, bus, rental car, get a ride with someone else, or autorickshaw to get somewhere.
24. Thankful for ALL the varieties of foods we have here and for fresh, clean, edible fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meat.
25. Thankful for a refrigerator that stays cold, doesn’t have cockroaches crawling in it, and has room for more than just a few days’ food.
26. Household appliances: microwave oven, stove and oven, toaster, blender, can opener, freezer, kitchen gadgets, disposal, dishwasher, decent pots and pans, and cooking utensils.
27. Fly swatters, measuring cups and measuring spoons.
28. I’m grateful for a TV, DVR, DVD, CD player, radio, hair dryer, electric blanket, fireplace, garage door opener, security alarm system, good lighting, central air conditioning, furnace, clothes washer and dryer, water heater, desktop computer with good internet access that comes through my wall (and not a little internet modem stick that has to continually be reloaded), cell phone and landline phones that work, phonebooks, and electrical plugs that are compatible with my things.
29. Being able to do six batches of laundry in ONE day if I want to and know that they will all be clean and dry by the end of the same day.
30. A comfortable, cozy bed.
31. A house without cockroaches, geckos, ants everywhere (although I do get a few in the cracks of my driveway), centipedes, millipedes, mosquitoes, bugs and crawly things I don’t even know what they are.
32. Sleeping without a mosquito net.
33. No cobras or other poisonous snakes slithering around my house or on the sidewalks or grass.
34. Well-lit streets and public areas.
35. Drinking fountains that I know are safe to drink from.
36. Milk that isn’t “Long-life” shelf-stored.
37. Ice cream.
38. Food from the grocery store that tastes like what it’s supposed to taste like (i.e. sugar, cereal, milk, dairy products, honey, Snickers, etc.)
39. Fast food places and good restaurants.
40. Toilets that flush, toilet paper, soap and clean running water.
41. Hot showers and hot, clean running water.
42. Clean public restrooms where I don’t have to worry about taking toilet paper, hand soap, and hand sanitizer with me, and people here don’t think a public toilet isn’t clean unless the floor and toilet seat are wet (from people washing themselves off after using the toilet instead of using toilet paper).
43. Pure running water no matter where I go.
44. Having the knowledge that if the electricity goes out, it doesn’t mean I won’t have any water either, and I know that someone will be doing their best to get it turned back on as soon as possible.
45. Having my own home, my own yard, and my own “stuff”.
46. NOT having to live out of a suitcase.
47. Having enough money to pay for my food, shelter, and clothing.
48. Garbage collection.
49. Garbage cans practically everywhere, and littering laws.
50. Living in a place where people actually throw things out in garbage cans rather than on the ground no matter where they are.
51. Clean, well-lit, well-built, well-furnished, well-supplied, well-maintained schools.
52. The school system that we have, the way students are taught, teaching strategies like critical thinking skills rather than just rote memorization and regurgitation of facts, and the education of the teachers.
53. NO corporal punishment in schools!
54. A chance for students to go clear through 12th grade in public schools, and the opportunities they have to further their education beyond that which isn’t determined by only ONE exam.
55. School textbooks, paper clips, pencils, erasers, paper, standardized tests with the answers (so the teachers don’t have to sit and figure out all the answers), well-stocked school and public libraries.
56. A Smartboard in my former classroom.
57. A good computer lab at school.
58. I’m thankful that our children aren’t in school from 6:30 AM until 4:30 PM, 6:30 PM, or even midnight (depending on where they are living)!
59. Good playgrounds with plenty of equipment for the students to play on.
60. A good postal system that isn’t corrupt.
61. Clean and safe hospitals.
62. Competent doctors.
63. Good friends and family.
I’M JUST GRATEFUL TO BE HOME, AND I’M GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE EXPERIENCES I’VE HAD AND THE PEOPLE I’VE MET. This has truly been the most amazing thing I’ve ever done in my life. (Probably BYU’s 30-Day Survival is the second.) People have said over and over again that I am amazing. I don’t think that about myself for a second, but what I’ve been given the opportunity to do certainly has been!
I’m grateful to all of you for reading my blog, emailing me, encouraging me, and praying for me. As of tonight, I’ve had 1,398 views to my blog. It has been viewed by people in the USA, Russia, So. Korea, Germany, So. Africa, Kenya, India, Austria, Canada, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. I’m not sure who’s reading it in some of those countries, but it amazes me that there has been as much interest in it as there has been, and such a diverse audience. If you’d like to respond to my blog in any way, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at: kadiclough@gmail.com. Thanks for being a part of my life for the past five months. It’s been quite a ride!
Goodbye and best wishes in all you do in YOUR life,
Kadi
(P.S. If you live in the Salt Lake area and would like to attend a presentation on my travels, please email me right away so that I can send you the details. I will be doing a couple of them in the next week or two.)
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