Developing World Problem #2: Water

This is kind of a long post, mostly because I think it is very important.  I will start the second part of my 3+ series again stating that I’m being unreasonable with my complaints if you compare my grievances with those of the average Rwandan.  I would love to moan and groan about the lack of water pressure and heat for hand washing and showering.  The pictures basically speak for themselves. In the US, I look forward to showers, spend about 20 minutes drenching myself in the scalding hot water.  When I first arrived I was very sick and miserable and I fantasized about steam during my showers, which obviously was not possible at Maranyundo.

Notice the squeegee.  There is no lip to prevent water from escaping so at the end of a shower, the user squeegees any water toward the drain to clean up after herself.  The bucket next to it is filled with water to be scooped over yourself when the water pressure does not cooperate for the shower head.

Usually I don’t use the shower head, for obvious reasons.

 Instead I use the spigot and partly fill the bucket.  It takes a lot of perseverance to wash and condition my hair!

The hand washing sink can be similarly frustrating

But let’s move on from my hair and onto the more important matter of safety and health.  Maranyundo has a few different water systems.  Rwandan tap water is not safe to drink and usually must be boiled for thirty minutes before consumption.  This has obvious negative environmental impacts, particularly for deforestation and pollution as wood is burned to heat the water. 

That is where Maranyundo is really special.  This smart contraption delivers filtered safe water right into my water bottle (it can be seen in the bottom right corner to shower how big the tank is).  The water goes through a triple filtration process before being dispensed into the tank and is as good as any other water I’ve had.  

At least once a day someone from the house go to the tank, conveniently located in the lunch room, and fills up a jug similar to these with water for cooking, drinking or toothbrushing.  Embarrassingly, I find the activity of collecting water extremely exhilarating and Rwandan.  However, the fact that we only have to walk about 100 meters is somewhat abnormal.  Many rural people must go to the town center to get water, which then must be heated before it can even be used.

Maranyundo also has a rain collection system (the black tank in the background) used for washing and gardening.   This one drains into this drainage pond to water the garden.  In Rwanda, sanitation is very important and of course, much of this cleaning requires water.   In first grade we all learned the importance of washing out hands and that is even more important in a country where people live close together, there is sometimes poor sewage and people have little disposable cash for healthcare.  The girls consistently mention the importance of hygiene in their assignments, ranging from a poem about what they will teach their daughters to a paragraph about why Maranyundo is the best school in Rwanda. 

However, how are people supposed to stay healthy without water?  According to UNICEF 25% of the population is unable to access safe drinking water and 26% have no access to improved sanitation facilities.  The numbers vary but it is not debatable that diarrhea from nonpotable water sources is a huge and deadly problem. UNICEF says it is one of the top three killers of children and the childhood mortality rate here is almost 1 in 5.  Unacceptable.

However, the government and NGOs are working hard to improve these statistics.  The Millenium Development Goal is to reach 85% water supply coverage by 2015.  A big challenge in developing countries are the “one and done” projects initiated by some international organizations.  For example, they might send an American engineer to set up a pump and then the engineer leaves.  There is no one in the community or possibly even the country with the ability or finances to maintain and fix the pump.  

So where does that leave the community?  Exactly back where it started.