Learn to appreciate what you have

No matter how poor your family is, there is one experiencing something worse. When you are crying that you don’t have shoes, there are some young people without feet! You complain that your parents are poor? But there are thousands of orphans who would give everything just to have at least a parent. “My friends bragged about the new clothes had and I was stuck with my old ones. Then as weeks passed, my friends kept asking me to go the supermarket or go out for ice-cream and again I had to decline everything because I was flat broke,” said carol Mugenyi 16, Apade student. Though she was hurting, deep inside her she was thankful that there was a roof over her head. “I don’t want to talk to my parents about it because I feel like it might make them sad” Mugenyi solemnly explains If you have parents or guardians, just be thankful and look on the bright side, think of the orphans in this country and others allover the world. Some of your age mates work hard to get something to eat. Some beg for food and have no place to sleep while they are mourning their dead parents. They cry but there is no one to listen. If your parents are poor, take heart! Poverty is not permanent, things will change sooner than you expect, besides, the majority of the world’s population are poor, so you are not alone. “I have never gotten a Christmas present although I was lucky to get a birthday present. But I know my guardians love me. If they had enough money, they’d buy me everything I want, and ‘knowing that’ gives me hope to move on.”Says, 14 year old Rodriguez Kamanzi, a student of Remera Catholic Sometimes all we need is appreciating the little we have in life and be thankful for what people do for us. “My mom always «borrows” money and my dad works real hard, to see that we get decent clothes and get food on the table, I would be selfish and insensitive if I start asking for things like iPods or phones from them. “Says, Kayitesi solange 16Sometimes it’s good to appreciate what you’ve got than crying for what you don’t have. There’s an old proverb that says “Only when you have eaten a lemon do you appreciate what sugar is”. martin.bishop18@yahoo.com