We’ve Moved

oh let me introduce you
to the new place we call it home
and like a little prince (with mother Queen)
we (each of us) have a throne

it has a lovely concrete driveway
so we’re out of all the mud
and it’s on the second floor
so it never, never floods

flushing toilets and 2 showers
from town water (not from deep well)
so we never have to clean up
flood-leaked sewerage and it’s smell

and even better, no feral cats
that are no cats in our new ceiling
or their kittens, or their boyfriends
screeching, ….. sounds and squealing

cockroaches haven’t seen one
ok so there’s a few ants, but honestly who cares?
because in more than one whole week i have not seen
a fist-sized GINORMOUS spider on the stairs

i’ve given away all our candles
for the new place has a generator
and yes i have said at least 1,000 prayers
in thanks to our Creator

and i’m serious here, i have said thanks
in many prayers of gratitude
and it’s for more than the laundromat downstairs
the kitchen sink, and flushing loos

it’s because i will never again take for granted
what it means to live well
to have hot, running water
that’s clean and does not smell

because to have clean water
readily available to all the members of your home
is a human right denied (worldwide)
to more than 2.1 billion fellow human souls

and in the words of the World Health Organisation

“Safe water, sanitation and hygiene
at home should not be a privilege
of only those who are rich or live in urban centres“
but available to all, in every town or little village

so now for Christmas, 2018
and into the new year that’s impending
it’s my wish for peace [and clean water] to all
in prayers and love i’m sending

[to you] all God’s blessings may they rain on you
may your home never be without power
and may you have a water tap to turn (on)
and the the time to take a shower

Here’s our new place looking a bit Christmassy (moved here one week ago) — just imagine our squeaky clean bathrooms and toilets that flush with a button. Jerry told me very earnestly about a year ago, his parent’s house that was lost in Typhoon Yolanda never had a toilet … ‘we just did a poo anywhere or in the sea Tita Mel’.

Famiy, Home, Human Rights, Merry Christmas, Water

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Melinda J. Irvine

Melinda J. Irvine is a freelance writer, blogger and creative. She writes for business clients and online publications all over the world. When she’s not writing about holistic health and ways to become a more effective writer, Mel is practicing tai chi and supporting the emotional wellbeing of marginalised kids in the Philippines. Sometimes she even has time to cross stitch.

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