As the year comes to an end, it's a good time to look back on the things we for which we should be grateful.  I was reminded of how much we have by the beginning of this story in the NY Times:

African Huts Far From the Grid Glow 

With Renewable Power
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL 

Published: December 24, 2010 

KIPTUSURI, Kenya — For Sara Ruto, the desperate yearning for electricity began last year with the purchase of her first cellphone, a lifeline for receiving small money transfers, contacting relatives in the city or checking chicken prices at the nearest market. 

Every week, Ms. Ruto walked two miles to hire a motorcycle taxi for the three-hour ride to Mogotio, the nearest town with electricity. There, she dropped off her cellphone at a store that recharges phones for 30 cents. Yet the service was in such demand that she had to leave it behind for three full days before returning. 

That wearying routine ended in February when the family sold some animals to buy a small Chinese-made solar power system for about $80. Now balanced precariously atop their tin roof, a lone solar panel provides enough electricity to charge the phone and run four bright overhead lights with switches. 

“My main motivation was the phone, but this has changed so many other things,” Ms. Ruto said on a recent evening as she relaxed on a bench in the mud-walled shack she shares with her husband and six children.

Can you imagine living like this?  Really, we have so much for which to be thankful.  But it's nice to see that people living like this woman and her family are getting some small chance to improve their lives.