It’s that time of year when people around me are coughing and sneezing with flu aches and pains. One of my workmates picked up a cold in the weekend but bounced right back because he popped into his local drugstore and grabbed some “cold drugs” for a few dollars.
I also got an email from a pastor friend of mine from Galati – a Romanian city I’ve toured to and performed in a number of times – telling me how his young son had drastically lost weight without any explanation until he had been diagnosed as diabetic at age seven. He’s been started on insulin and has just managed to have his 3 times a day injections without crying. It’s a treatable condition in my first-world paradise but not such a simple malady to live with in Eastern Europe.
I opened FaceBook and read how 3500 people had queued on a single day for a chance to see a doctor on the Mercy Ship “Africa Mercy” because there’s 2 doctors to every 10,000 people in West Africa. Simple health problems escalate into life threatening situations because the access to medical care is so difficult in a place like Togo where the Africa Mercy is currently birthed.
It’s so easy for me to just take all that I have for granted and enjoy it without thinking twice – the clean water, the healthy food [when I eat it! :p], and the access to a doctor 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
How lucky I am to have easy access to cheap medical drugs and extensive professional healthcare.
I’m especially grateful for the opportunity I have working with Mercy Ships as an Affiliate Artist to help raise funds and promote the free medical care they give to over 44,000 people in the poorest places on earth each year.
What are you grateful for today?
Take care,
Peter Woolston
Music With a Mission to Rock Your World
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