teenLook #5 - October 2019 - Nicole Goodwin

Giving thanks this year.
Fall is the most beautiful
time of year. It's one of
my most favourite seasons.
The colours are absolutely
stunning. The change
from hot Summer sun to the
cooler weather is usually a
welcome relief. Although this
Summer, I believe we had 54
days of rain, so we actually
had some of the best weather
in September. But, unfortunately,
that too has to end as
the inevitable colder weather
that we call Winter moves in.
Still, most of us can appreciate
the change and be optimistic
that Summer will return.
Thankful for the beauty
that surrounds us that is life.
October 14 is Thanksgiving
day. A day to gather with
family and friends to celebrate
the lives we share together.
Giving thanks for the
blessing, we have received.
I encourage you to honestly
reflect on that and think
of even the smallest thing
that can be easily taken for
granted. A couple of weeks
ago, we experienced a rare
power outage in the evening.
Two transformers exploded,
leaving 20,000 people
without power for two hours.
What a great way to instantly
appreciate the things we
take for granted! My girls and
I sat around the kitchen table
with a few cell phone lights
to illuminate the darkness.
We laughed and giggled at
the unannounced change.
Then we talked. We had
conversations. We played
board games, anxious that
the power of the cell phones
would not fade before we
could finish, leaving us in the
darkness again. The girls
went to bed early as there
were no distractions to keep
them awake.
We should have power outages
more often.
I like to remember one of the
most life-changing experiences
of my life when I start
to forget how fortunate we
really are...
When I was 19, I left home
and flew halfway around
the world to the continent
of Africa. I was on my own,
travelling for the first time.
I was scared. I remember
wandering a crowded street
in Zambia, waiting for my ride
to take me to Lubumbashi,
Zaire. The year was 1990,
but what I saw was like I had
been transported to 1950. It
was a surreal time in my life.
Believe me; all eyes were on
me.
I spent three months in Zaire,
now known as the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. The
country was just starting to
go through a considerable
change as unrest and political
corruption caused it's
collapse shortly after.
I spent time with some of
the poorest families. Seeing
children make incredible
toys from scraps they found.
They were the happiest kids
I ever met! I used to visit with
the families that had invited
me to have dinner with
them. They literally only had
the necessities to live, yet
shared everything with me. I
was so humbled to see how
life could be so hard, yet the
people were so giving and
happy.
Living with no electricity or
running water. Yeah, that's as
real as it can get for a teenager
like me coming from a
country like Canada. I was
really in shock.
To connect with the people, I
learned Swahili. I learned that
when I went to the local lumberyard,
the bundle marked
"Mzungu" was meant for me.
I learned that while operating
a dump truck loaded
with rock and sand that had
no brakes (because the fluid
lines would bleed out) forcing
me to grip the brake pedal
with my toes to pull it up from
the cab floor (when I realized
I had not kept the brakes
pressurized) and I needed to
stop suddenly, was a terrifying
experience!
I learned not to wear shoes
while driving.
All new and wonderful experiences.
Experiences that made me
appreciate the things in my
life back home that I didn't
even realize I had been taking
for granted as an expected
part of living.
64 teenlook
October