amazi (water)

My guesthouse's pool has been skimmed of algae and it appears they are trying to clean it enough for use, which would have actually been nice on this hot day. As I watched the pool filling up with clean, potable water, and thought about World Water Week, I couldn't help but think about the children I saw earlier in the day who were begging me for my empty water bottle, which are used to carry drinking water for the school day. Everywhere you go you can see women and children with the yellow containers distributed for exclusive use of drinking water. Rwanda actually has quite a good system, with wells and pumps supposidly set up every kilometer, from which clean water is accessible. Although it is the dry season, the rivers and lakes still exist here, and in that sense Rwanda, I guess, is lucky.

But there are still millions of people all over the world for whom water is an unobtainable life source, or their greatest death threat. Cholera, E. coli, and many other disease causing bacteria thrive in still water and cause severe diarrhea, for which rehydration is the basic treatment. But how can rehydration occur without clean water? A major cause of infant mortality has been the use of formula (supplied for free by companies at first, and advertised as the 'modern way' to feed infants) reconstituted with contaminated water. Health issues aside, the effort of retrieving water from a well, hauling it home, and waiting 30 minutes for it to boil adds up to a large part of families work-loads. And here I was today, bummed because the pressure in the shower has been at a very minimal drizzle for two weeks. At least it still comes out of the tap, and is potable (although I do still boil it). At home it is not uncommon for 20 minute showers, filling up a large tub, and even here swimming pools exist. Water is just one more thing that I used to take for granted. Rwanda has given me a new appreciation for how fortunate I am to flip on a tap and have endless access to all the amazi I need. Hopefully I'll realize that I really don't need so much.