Indulgences

How do you indulgence yourself after a long day? My favorite thing to do is to take a shower. I love to shower. Especially after spending the day at AFE, playing with the kids outside, and the long, sweaty walk up the stairs to our house. I love the smell of my shampoo and the feeling of the clean water through my hair. In the shower I can’t be bothered; I stop serving others needs for a moment, and spend as long in there as I like. It becomes a spiritual experience for me and sometime I break into spontaneous worship. I love to shower.

Showering is something we may take for granted in the states. Unfortunately, not many of the families of AFE experience this luxury. They do not have running water at their house. They bathe with their clothes on in a stream near their house. Perhaps this is refreshing on a hot day, but miserable on a cold one. I suspect that many of our AFE kids and families do not make it to the stream to bathe that often.

Now, thanks to Washington Cathedral – and others – AFE will have 5 showers on their grounds by Christmas. Not only will the AFE kids and families be able to bathe whenever they like and experience the luxury of a shower, but a new, clean appearance will begin to change their identity and how others see them. If they leave their community they can do so with confidence, that strangers will no longer point behind their backs and call them one of the “dirty ones.”

Elise White Diaz