Clean water and flying garbage

I took a shower tonight

that was preceded by a bath

then I brushed my teeth and had a glass of water

A well with the spigot the size of the faucet in my kitchen sink,

was just installed in a small village in Uganda

A one thousand dollar gift from Bono and Chris Tucker,

It is used by a community of hundreds

And women may walk ten miles to collect the fresh water

I let my water run as I brushed my teeth

In Uganda, children want to come to school, even on the holidays

When clean water became available, attendance tripled

Because illnesses like Cholera, Malaria and Typhoid Fever declined

The children want to learn

They yearn to be healthy enough to walk miles to class

HIV positive women raise children hoping they can give their children everything,

except the disease

They make memory books of thoughts and pictures to pass on when the virus takes over

Their children are like hospice workers

Kids may sleep six to a bed, one on top of the other

They dance and sing outside the huts made from sheets of tin and old wood

These young happy faces make their own kites

from sticks, discarded paper and pieces of string

And they run down rough, dirt roads barefoot,

laughing as the kites soar

I should no longer want for anything

I too should simply be happy,

Smiling at clean water and flying garbage