Water is Life

Here in Uganda, and I suspect in most of Africa, if not much of the developing world, people use the phrase, "Water is life." Its meaning is very literal. A person can do without food for a time, and many people do, but water is a necessity. Without water death rules.

In our area, water is plentiful. However, getting the water can be another story. Water does not come piped into homes from the central municipal water supply. Well, water may be piped in some places in Kampala, but not here in Nkozi, or in other rural areas.

People get water from lakes, streams, swamps, boreholes (what I know as pumps), and tanks that collect rainwater as well as the few fortunate souls who have water piped to the house.

Living on campus, we are among the few who have running water at home. At least we had water until three days ago when both of the pumps broke down at the same time. Now we don't.

Fortunately, Bry'Chell had just filled the drinking water jerry cans so we're in good shape for drinking water.

However, drinking water is a small part of our water needs. Usually I use water from the tap for cooking. Water that is boiled is safe for consumption and I figure water we use for cooking ends up being boiled, so the drinking water supply goes further by not using it for cooking.

There is a tank by the administration building that collects rain water, so, when the water goes out, we can get water there. Tank is something of a misnomer. Yes, the water is stored in an underground tank, but there's an electric pump on the side. You turn on the switch and water comes out of a pipe. That's the easy part.

The challenge is carrying the water home. It's a bit of a hike. Nothing outrageous, but it is several hundred years and water is heavy--eight pounds to the gallon if Dad's information is right--so a five gallon bucket is 40 pounds. Two buckets are 80 pounds.

Saturday evening when we arrived home we had some water in the house, so we were OK. However, Bry'Chell was starting back to school on Monday and not wanting to send off a stinky kid to school, we needed water for Sunday baths.

Sunday evening we took our buckets and jerry cans and went to fetch water. It was no big deal. We filled two buckets and a small jerry can. Since the buckets have lids, we carried them back with a minimum of spillage. Even so, the sides of our trousers were soaked by the time we arrived home.

Later in the evening Carol and her little sister Bonnie brought us two more small jerry cans of water. We were set in comfort. I appreciated their kindness. I'm sure Sr. Prisca sent them over.

We had enough for baths and dishes. Of course, we minimized our usage for those purposes. It's amazing how little water you can get by with for dishes and bathing. We bath by putting water in a plastic basin (one ordinarily used for laundry) in the tub, standing in the tub and washing up. It works. We heat water in the electric kettle and add it to the basin.

We even had enough water to flush the toilet once. I won't go into details there. Suffice to say, I see the value of an outhouse.

Monday is usually the day Specioza does laundry. I was out getting some class material copied when she arrived, but I was home shortly afterwards. I told her not to even to try to do laundry. It just takes too much water and carrying all the water is unnecessary since the water should be on in a couple of days. We have enough clothes to see us through until then. The nice thing was that Specioza arrived with her own jerry can of water so she could at least mop the floors.

A few minutes after that, Richard, our gardener, arrived with a large jerry can of water. This was great. Now I could flush the toilet again and have some for dishes and general use.

Early afternoon I went to get another bucket of water, so we would have enough water for baths and dishes in the evening. However, later, in the early evening, Richard returned with two more large jerry cans of water.

I didn't ask for any of this, but people here are kind and know the importance of water. In some ways, I would prefer to do things myself, but how can I refuse such generosity?

Most people here, including Specioza and Richard, do not have running water. They carry water everyday. It's good for us to have this authentic Ugandan experience. I'm sure that most of Bry'Chell's schoolmates at St. Mary's carry water when they get home. And I'm also sure they carry it further then we do. Some people have to go several kilometers to get water. The quality of the water supply for many people is not as good as ours. We're fortunate to have good quality water. Water is part of life. Water is life.