A few months ago I visited a township called Epworth on
the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe. Although this urban community has a
population of well over 100 000 people, there has never been electricity or
running water, despite numerous applications for them and efforts to install
them.
The access to clean water is a basic human right
according to the United Nations. But not having water didn’t stop the residents
of Epworth from “dreaming”. They dug wells for themselves without government
support, built houses, clinics, schools and thriving small enterprises. They
didn’t focus on the problem, they thought of solutions, implemented them and
survived.
We often face many challenges in life. There are many
things that we “have to have” and if we do not have them, we become miserable
or discontented. Thoughts like, “if only
I had money,” or, “if only I had …” – we can each finish the sentence. Sometimes the answer we
choose hampers us utilizing our own initiative. Chances are, that most of us
and our families are better off than the majority the people who live in
Epworth. Sometimes we focus on our problems so much that we forget what we can
do. Let’s not make what we have in our hands be the bench mark of what our dreams
can be, let’s think big, dream bigger, see and catch the opportunities and
watch the God of the impossible enable us as we not only envision but build our
worlds.
