Funny how such a small thing most of us take for granted can have such a profound effect on our lives.
In the first week that I was in Abu Dhabi I read about a woman who was making care packages for labourers. She had surveyed the men and asked them what they would most like to receive.
One man told her a new pillowslip as it would make it so much easier to control the lice if he was able to wash his pillowslip more often.
How many of us have a stack of unused mismatched pillowslips in our cupboards that we keep for reasons we are never quite sure about.
I went out and bought 6 dozen pillow slips and sent them to this lady but it was still just a drop in the ocean of what was actually required.
It also moved me to start the welfare collections from expat families to give to laborers that we still do daily, we give away about a truck load of goods per week.
One of my friends recently said to me, you are one of the few people who when they go home, can honestly say you have made a difference in peoples lives here. Such a nice compliment.
Last night my sweet funny little Tamirie was crying in her bed. I went in to talk to her and give her a hug and she said Mum, do you think we could send my pillow to my mum in Ethiopia? Its so soft and clean and she would love it.
My heart just breaks for this precious little girl who has lived on the streets of Addis for the first six years of her life in what she calls her plastic house. It was a piece of plastic stuck to the church walls.
Her mother and four siblings are still on the street using goodness knows what for a pillow.
In the first week that I was in Abu Dhabi I read about a woman who was making care packages for labourers. She had surveyed the men and asked them what they would most like to receive.
One man told her a new pillowslip as it would make it so much easier to control the lice if he was able to wash his pillowslip more often.
How many of us have a stack of unused mismatched pillowslips in our cupboards that we keep for reasons we are never quite sure about.
I went out and bought 6 dozen pillow slips and sent them to this lady but it was still just a drop in the ocean of what was actually required.
It also moved me to start the welfare collections from expat families to give to laborers that we still do daily, we give away about a truck load of goods per week.
One of my friends recently said to me, you are one of the few people who when they go home, can honestly say you have made a difference in peoples lives here. Such a nice compliment.
Last night my sweet funny little Tamirie was crying in her bed. I went in to talk to her and give her a hug and she said Mum, do you think we could send my pillow to my mum in Ethiopia? Its so soft and clean and she would love it.
My heart just breaks for this precious little girl who has lived on the streets of Addis for the first six years of her life in what she calls her plastic house. It was a piece of plastic stuck to the church walls.
Her mother and four siblings are still on the street using goodness knows what for a pillow.
