A day to be thankful

I'm sitting here in a café drinking my double shot espresso and contemplating the annoyance that is slow internet. So far there have been several things that have made my day not go the way I was thinking it would. At the moment I am missing a pre-planned Skype date with a friend. The internet is so slow I can't even access my emails. I left my wallet at home with my spare airtime. It's just started really raining and it's my washing day. The power has gone out. Because of the rain I'm now stuck at the café until it stops.

With all these possible complaints about to burst into my consciousness I have to stop myself and be thankful. Recently I've been reminded again and again of the power of thankfulness and the relative ease and speed with which I can slip into a negative frame of mind.

So today I am thankful that I'm warm and dry and have a place to be so until the rain decides to stop. I'm thankful for the stash of money I found in my bag as it means if I'm rained in for the day I can get some food. I'm thankful for the fact that the storm and the rain are reminders of God's provision and that the farmers who were concerned about the slow start to the wet season at least for today have their fears allayed. I'm thankful for the sound of rain. I'm thankful for the things I managed to get done yesterday so that I don't have to worry about them today. I'm thankful for the enforced moment of rest when I may have otherwise felt that I should be somewhere else doing something else. I'm thankful that I don't have email and facebook to distract me from writing this. I'm thankful that I have a laptop that has an hour or so on the battery in which time the power may come on again. I'm thankful that I was already here at the café when the rain started and not halfway between. I'm thankful that the trip Anne had planned to one of our Australia HOPE International schools today was cancelled and therefore there is no chance that I will have to risk a bogged car.

I'm also thankful for so many other constants in my life. From the resources I have access to, to friends, both those in Uganda and all around the world. I'm thankful for material things and those that are less tangible. I'm thankful for my health and ability to reason and experience emotion. I'm thankful for the beauty that I see in the world around me and I'm also thankful that in the face of everything that is awful in this world I can respond with love because I have been loved.

If I sit here thinking instead of thanking I'm a person I don't want to be.

So I'll sit here and wait it out being thankful for the time to write this blog, one of which I feel is woefully overdue, hoping that the rain will stop in time for my language lesson and music practice tonight and that internet will manage to send this out there into cyber space.

Have a blessed week

bron

ps – I’m very thankful that despite slow internet I managed to have a typed Skype date with my friend, managed to check some emails and the power came back on (whether generator or mains I’m not sure but as long as my computer has not died I’m so happy).

Animal sacrifice

I love eating meat. Like a LOT. If you know me, you know this to be true. And really any kind will do, although a thick juicy medium rare Scotch Fillet would go down a treat. Or grilled lamb chops. Or chicken kiev with lots of garlic and butter. Or bacon. Mmmmm bacon.

So it might come as somewhat of a shock to find that currently I am a virtual vegetarian. Now I know that there are many reasons for becoming a vegetarian, many of which I find confounding (I know that there are foods I don't like but how can anyone not like meat?!) but I can't say that I've stopped eating meat for such altruistic reasons as saving the cute little goats that I see on the side of the road, or to stop the slaughter of innocent cows. I'm not for inhumane treatment of animals but I guess I like meat more than I like them (and if there is a piece of meat on a foam tray covered in plastic wrap how I am to know how it died - the ignorance plea). However in the almost nine months since I've been living in this apartment (and therefore buying my own food) I've bought meat products maybe four times. Mince that went into a spaghetti bolognaise, one packet of bacon and chorizo a couple of times. And come to think of it the first three months when I didn't have a fridge I didn't buy any meat.

An unsuspecting cow. Kibogo village, 2008

Really my lack of meat consumption is all about lack of convenience. Laziness and tight purse strings on my part really. The only place I know that I can buy single person proportioned cuts of meat sells that meat at a premium price and I'm not willing to pay that much.

Butchery Ugandan style

That's not to say when I eat out that I don't try and always order something meaty. And when that meal costs somewhere between eighty cents and two dollars it's much more affordable than the nicely packaged alternative. Of course it's still not a steak…

The classic street food ‘meat on a stick’ and the grandest roast chicken ever!

Meat consumption is a privilege of the rich. For most Australians who are vegetarian it is a lifestyle choice. But here around me I see people who are vegetarians by circumstance. Who wish to be habitual rather than occasional omnivores. And as a meat lover I can't blame them.

I have started to see some articles (maybe they were always there and now I've started looking for them) about the growing middle class in China and India and how the growing economic stability of these rather large groups of people is starting to change their meat consumption habits. Most of the articles i read were looking at the long term (and not so long term) global effects, as the land once used for cereal crops (that feeds the majority of the worlds population) is sought after for pastureland and as a food source for livestock. This has caused me to think about my own meat consumption habits (pre Uganda) and whether my privilege entitles me to dismiss these concerns.

Does thinking about the effect that my meat consumption has on the world make me consider not eating meat. Not really. It seems I'm not that noble. But if a healthier, more globally sustainable diet is a by product of sacrificing my eating of animals then I'm also okay with that.

On the other hand, if you would like to support families here in Uganda and DR Congo by supplying them with breeding goats, chickens, pigs or cows (thus giving them an opportunity to raise their family income and eat meat if they would like to), check out Jambo Sana and buy an Australia HOPE International gift card.

Blessings

bron