It’s the small things in life that we take for granted, until they’re lost. Like having access to transport, clothes on our back, the taste of clean drinking water and the one that most recently I realised was a high priority of mine, having a shower in your own home.
Now I’m not going to pretend like this isn’t a good thing, my house is getting a bathroom renovation at the moment. However, it has made me understand the privilege it is to have a shower first thing in the morning to wake me up and showering as part of my night-time wind down ritual.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not much of a camper, my idea of slumming it is either in a caravan or a large tent with at least access to power and a toilet block close by. I’m not one to take off for the weekend on a camp just for the fun of it, but this past week I have been doing ‘camping adjacent’ by showing wherever I can. Between work and my family’s farm, it seems that this will be the next month of my life – who knew that a full bathroom makeover takes this long!!
The unfortunate consequence for the people around me as part of this adjustment I’m having to make is that I, who is always late to everything, am only going to be later to everything (SORRY BOSS). So please, for me, when you jump in the shower this morning/evening in your own bathroom in your own home - soak up how lucky you are for an extra minute.
All jokes aside there are around 122,500 homeless people in our country that don’t have access to safe accommodation let alone a shower, and a huge number in our region alone - estimated to be more than 1,200 - so don’t take for granted the access we have to life’s spoils. That’s escalated substantially since the estimated 700 homeless from the 2016 census. If you or someone you know is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, there are some great organisations in our region to reach out to, such as the Mackay Women’s Centre, Vinnies Homeless Hostel, the Salvo’s, CASA, Chances Café, Orange Sky and of course Mackay's Sleep Bus.
Kaley
