Blog Action Day – Water, Water, Everywhere

There’s a water shortage. Again. Across the whole campus.

We know what this means – trekking down to the nearby village along the shores of the lagoon with our  gray metal pails and plastic buckets. On our list of school provisions for the semester, we were encouraged to bring along Dettol – a local disinfectant which releases a sharp smelling cloud of white antiseptic into our pails of water.

Dozens of students grab their own buckets in addition to those belonging to seniors. Seniors need not trek down to the village for they’ve earned that right. So we juniors click and clack down the road with flashlights and head a few short kilometers to the nearby fishing village. We greet the villagers. They know us well and let us share their lagoon.

We dip into brown water. We fill up dozens of metal buckets. I roll a swat of cloth into a small wheel of fabric, and place it on my head for comfort. I squat down as my friend heaves my bucket atop my padded head. I steady it with my left hand. With my right, I carry a senior’s full pail of water. At least, we’ll have disinfected water to shower and brush our teeth with the next morning before gathering in the dining hall.

Tonight, the faucet runs. Ice cold water flows directly into a tall glass I hold beneath it. My reality is different now, nevertheless, a part of me will always carry an empty bucket looking for water from strangers, for I once knew what it felt like to want water so desperately.

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year, I’m calling your attention to that ever so important essential in our lives, Water. Thinking back on those core shaping days spent in a West African boarding school, inconveniences then now seem quite minor in the larger scheme of life for the simple fact that we always had the lagoon nearby and could find at least a cap-full of Dettol around.

Others aren’t quite as fortunate today. Here are a few direct statistics from Blog Action Day regarding the scarcity of clean water.

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water, which causes a litany of struggles, diseases and even death.

• 40 Billion Hours: African women walk over 40 billion hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is usually still not safe to drink. More Info »
• 38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions. More Info »
• Wars Over Water: Many scholars attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. A report commissioned by the UN found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa. More Info »
• A Human Right: In July, to address the water crisis, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right over. But we are far from implementing solutions to secure basic access to safe drinking water. More Info »

There are so many causes to support and not enough resources, this I fully understand.

If anything, in this world of information overload, awareness remains valid currency; a constant reminder that what we so easily take for granted could mean another day to live for someone else.