Water is Life
14th November (I am so behind in updates that the next few will be from anywhere in the last month or so therefore I need to add some dates, otherwise you will think I have done many things in the space of only a few days!)
Today was a first… I participated in a meeting that involved discussions around prevention of infectious disease outbreaks given our current water crisis. Today is day 9 with 1/2 of our city without any water. There is no water to flush toilets, clean & sterilize equipment or wash hands within the medical facility, no water for kids at the schools to have drinks. There is only one bore hole within the village and the line to collect water is crazy long from the demand. With nearly 200 people living in the village, nearly 1000 attending the school about 400 attending the rehab program in the village each week and 600 attending the clinic each week and everyone in the surrounding community aware we have safe bore hole water, the demand on our little bore hole has been rather big. Just to give you an idea, for just myself I am collecting about 6 buckets a day for washing dishes, clothes, hands, myself and flushing the toilet. And that’s being really strict with my water.
So the problem we faced today was an imminent health crisis. The surrounding communities around us are not on safe drinking water as the wells are now not safe after the first rains. The people attending our clinic are also coming from all across the region bringing all of there diseases with them into a place where our staff are not washing their hands properly from water shortages!!! so we are essentially a disaster waiting to happen. Discussions were around cholera, typhoid, and all sorts of other outbreaks. It felt as though I was in a movie. After numerous visits to the water board we are still no closer to a time line of when the water will return, and the demand is so big that it could still be days before the water truck will come to the village.
It just made me think. I havn’t been in Australia for the worst of the current water shortages, but what ever is happening atleast there is water in the toilets to flush and water in the taps to drink. And the water you have is safe. It also made me realize that although we are feeling semi crisis with all of the water dependency within the village, in reality more than 95% of Malawi is always this way, and large proportion of villages don’t even have bore holes!!! It will be an amazing experience to come home and drink water from the tap.
I am now an absolute pro at carrying water on my head and bathing from a bucket!!!
Water is life! One of the greatest thing to give in Malawi is access to water….It’s a way to make a massive & instant difference into an entire communities lives. Our social centre here at the village places bore holes in remote villages and provides the training for the village to care for its maintenance. If you’re interested please let me know!
I recently attended a bore hole celebration ceremony and the women danced for hours!! That’s another reason I love the bore hole’s so much, the difference it makes to the lives of the women is amazing!! sometimes they have to carry buckets for kilometers at a time from dirty rivers or wells far away, but if there is a bore hole in the village it changes their lives. Women get very few pleasures here in Malawi, especially those that take away from the burdens in their lives. This certainly is one of them.
Today was a first… I participated in a meeting that involved discussions around prevention of infectious disease outbreaks given our current water crisis. Today is day 9 with 1/2 of our city without any water. There is no water to flush toilets, clean & sterilize equipment or wash hands within the medical facility, no water for kids at the schools to have drinks. There is only one bore hole within the village and the line to collect water is crazy long from the demand. With nearly 200 people living in the village, nearly 1000 attending the school about 400 attending the rehab program in the village each week and 600 attending the clinic each week and everyone in the surrounding community aware we have safe bore hole water, the demand on our little bore hole has been rather big. Just to give you an idea, for just myself I am collecting about 6 buckets a day for washing dishes, clothes, hands, myself and flushing the toilet. And that’s being really strict with my water.
So the problem we faced today was an imminent health crisis. The surrounding communities around us are not on safe drinking water as the wells are now not safe after the first rains. The people attending our clinic are also coming from all across the region bringing all of there diseases with them into a place where our staff are not washing their hands properly from water shortages!!! so we are essentially a disaster waiting to happen. Discussions were around cholera, typhoid, and all sorts of other outbreaks. It felt as though I was in a movie. After numerous visits to the water board we are still no closer to a time line of when the water will return, and the demand is so big that it could still be days before the water truck will come to the village.
It just made me think. I havn’t been in Australia for the worst of the current water shortages, but what ever is happening atleast there is water in the toilets to flush and water in the taps to drink. And the water you have is safe. It also made me realize that although we are feeling semi crisis with all of the water dependency within the village, in reality more than 95% of Malawi is always this way, and large proportion of villages don’t even have bore holes!!! It will be an amazing experience to come home and drink water from the tap.
I am now an absolute pro at carrying water on my head and bathing from a bucket!!!
Water is life! One of the greatest thing to give in Malawi is access to water….It’s a way to make a massive & instant difference into an entire communities lives. Our social centre here at the village places bore holes in remote villages and provides the training for the village to care for its maintenance. If you’re interested please let me know!
I recently attended a bore hole celebration ceremony and the women danced for hours!! That’s another reason I love the bore hole’s so much, the difference it makes to the lives of the women is amazing!! sometimes they have to carry buckets for kilometers at a time from dirty rivers or wells far away, but if there is a bore hole in the village it changes their lives. Women get very few pleasures here in Malawi, especially those that take away from the burdens in their lives. This certainly is one of them.
posted by tj-in-malawi @ 4:25 AM
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