This year I’m making Thanksgiving about giving thanks.
I was very nervous when the stocks started to plummet. I watched in horror what I had diligently put away start to dwindle. Then I was inspired by some incredible stories of endurance, persistence and the prevailing force of human willpower.
Through Heroes Against Diabetes in Africa ( www.hadia.info ) I learnt about 4 children with type 1 diabetes in Kenya. Shiela, aged 5, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago. Every month her mother walks 11 miles to get to Naivasha Hospital, Shiela strapped to her back, to get her daughter’s insulin supplies. During this visit Shiela gets her blood sugar checked – the snapshot glycemic reading patients with Type 1 diabetes ought to take at least 3 to 5 times a day to determine how to much insulin to use. She may even get an A1C, if supplies are available
John aged 17, volunteers every Saturday and Sunday at Naivasha Hospital to get insulin supplies for himself and two of his younger siblings, aged 13 and 11. They too were diagnosed with diabetes in early childhood.
Insulin and other diabetes supplies in rural Kenya cost only 2 dollars a day but for the 23% of families that live off a dollar a day that fee is astronomical. They still use glass syringes that need boiling with each use and the large needles that become dull with each shot. They use the older types of insulin and often have no reliable access to a refrigerator. Sometimes having that insulin means doing without other necessities. Yet these patients dutifully do whatever it takes to comply.
These stories are a reminder that even as we brace ourselves for the harsh turmoil of the economic nose dive, there are others who have it harder yet push past their obstacles everyday and endure.
In reality, only 6 % of the population of the world enjoys some of the economic privileges we often feel entitled to. Tough times force us to recreate ourselves and seek new solutions. So even in the face of uncertainty and fear, I’m learning to take time to be grateful – for good health, the wealth of good friends and the spirit of hope and optimism that is in us.
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