Water. What does it mean to you? How much do you take your water for granted. When you think of water, do you think of nature's bounty...streams, rivers, oceans, rainfall? Or do you think of the miracle you get out of the tap every time you turn the faucet? Do you realize just how lucky you are to have the miracle of plumbing? Can you even imagine what it would be like to live without running water? This past weekend I had my bathroom water shut off due to a pipe leak which lead to a substantial amount of water on the kitchen floor. Even though I all the other water in the house worked, and I just had to borrow another bathroom it seemed like such a major inconvenience. Which makes me question how in the world I ever dealt with having to haul my own water from a pump for two years while living in Guinea. My daily existence involved carrying 45 pounds of water on my head for 400 meters to about half a mile (I can honestly say that carrying on top of your head is the easiest way to carry that kind of weight that kind of distance), washing dishes in a bucket, taking a bath from a bucket, praying my water was clean as I didn't want to keep drinking bleached water, considering every possible way to conserve said water (it is amazing how little water you can use in a day if you try), hoping that really was the sound of thunder because it meant I could catch rainwater to use, all while trying to ensure I consumed 5-8 liters of clean water a day to balance out the heat.
I had it easy. I had a safe water source. I had a relatively close water source. I had closed container to carry my water in. Not everyone is that lucky. Did you know that every day in Africa women and children walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water? Did you know that unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, war included? Up to 42,000 each week? Did you know that the average American uses 159 gallons of water every day? Can you even think of all the times you are using that water? That makes the 2-4 gallons I used a day seem impossible How little do you think you could manage to use for just one day? Want more scary facts? Check this out.
It is blog action day. Start thinking about water, your access to it and others access to it. Consider what it would be like to be one of those others. Imagine how different your life would be. Consider action of some form.
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