Tag: water shortage

How would you fill in this blank: “If I had to ________, I would really be roughing it!”

Sometimes the view we have of missionaries is a 1908 view, of Harmon Schmelzenbach piloting his covered wagon across swollen streams and rugged hills, taking the Gospel message to the Swazi people. Tied up with that picture is a rural view, of being far away from so-called “civilization” and enduring the hardships of missionary life.

Don’t get me wrong. There are still missionaries who live far away from population centers, but more and more missionaries are going where the people are going, and that is to the cities. Rapid urbanization is one of the amazing facts of life on planet earth at the beginning of the 21st century, as this montage so graphically depicts.

One would be tempted to think that the migration to the cities means an easier way of life for most people, that electricity would be readily available, fresh drinking water abundant and good sanitation a given. This is simply not the case. In Nairobi, Kenya, a city of roughly 3.1 million people, many residents only have a couple hours of electricity per day. Others must walk a good distance carrying plastic containers to draw clean water from a distant tap or bore hole, enough for the day’s drinking, cooking and washing.

How can we privileged Westerners who rarely face such a grind of daily living identify with those for whom life is much tougher?

Continue reading “Take the “roughing it” missions challenge!” →