Water is something that I have always taken for granted. Living in America, I didn't have to worry about catching rain water in my buckets or carrying water from the nearby stream. But here, I do. Recently, our village has had a huge water problem and students have had to hike several kilometers to fetch water for the teachers. Yes, I have caved in and allowed students to carry water for me. I tell myself that it is their culture and they like carrying water for their elders, but its mostly laziness. Carrying water up hill over uneven ground is hard work, and water is heavy. I don't have the skills to carry water buckets on my head or the coordination required to keep your head straight, eyes forward, and not trip on a rock, etc. Because there is a water shortage, I try to be very conservative and make important decisions. For example, there is not enough water to drink, cook, bathe, clean dishes, wash clothes, clean my house and flush my toilet as often as I would like. So I have to prioritize. I can't stand bad smells, so bathing and flushing my toilet often take priority. I pay someone to wash my clothes, so I let her worry about the water. I tend to do less cooking then I would like and often eat on paper plates during water shortages.
Catching rainwater has been surprisingly difficult for me. There are days when it will rain hard enough for me to catch a good amount of water, but then I find myself competing with neighboring goats for the water in my bucket. For example, last week I left buckets out while it was raining and I was teaching. When I looked out the classroom window, there were six goats gathered around my buckets drinking my water. Now, rain water is usually amazing because you can use it for drinking and don't need to go through the long process of boiling and filtering. However, my rain water had a layer of goat saliva floating on top of it. Now had I been in America, I would say that was gross and dump out the water. But in Tanzania, I know not to let good water go to waste. So I skimmed the goat spit off with a bowl then boiled and filtered the rainwater. I think from now on I am just going to stick out my tongue when its raining. Thats much better than competing with goats...
