Thinking About Water ...
It has almost been 3 weeks in Foumban and we never stopped thinking about water.
I remember our first week here, ahh, was such a struggle. Coming from a priviledged living envrionment where clean water access is granted, both of us absolutely lost it the first three nights at our house in Foumban because no water came out of the faucet and we thought it never would.
But as time went by, we kind of got used to the no-water situation. I started filtering water with the water purification kit I brought from Japan.
step1: Put half a spoon of the Poly-Glu powder into one 1.5L bottle of dirty water .
I repeated this whole prcess a few times during the first two weeks, but guess what: WATER CAME!!
Surprise, surprise. One afternoon, when one of us opened the faucet, we first heard some sucking noise and then water flowed out of the tap. Hahaha! We exclaimed in joy. However, the water went away at night.
Since then, the water has come and gone a few times on its own caprice.
Right now, we are on our third week here and living each hour with some wishful thinking that the water might come back in the next minute.
Peolpe in downtown Foumban don't seem to be bothered too much by the unpredictable nature of their water infrastructure. This reminded me of Plato's ideal state where the most happiness is achieved through sensoring information and limiting luxuries such as meat and pastries. In this particular situation, people are happy here due to that they have never experienced having water available at alltime through their water pipes; and that they don't know about the world where access to water is so easy and effortless. When inconveninece has become a part of our daily life, it would not be perceived as inconvenience anymore.
Downtown is alright, because if we need clean water, we can just go to the store and buy a bunch with our grant money.
But what about the locals who earn like 60 bucks every month? 1.5L×6bottles are sold at a price of 2.5 USD. The average size of a family here has more than 5 people. Even when both parents work they can only earn 120 bucks per month. They have to pay for rent, food, clothes, healthcare, e.t.c., just like us. What's left then to buy bottled water from the stores? Well, very little.
In the village (as you can see from the pictures below), there's no water piping for sure. People get water from river, and well (people were going to the well in the 3rd picture).
The doctor in the Mandetkene village recommended not to drink water from the river. Also, a few local residents mentioned that they would serve bottled mineral water only to guests, sick family members, little babies and pregnant women. People in the village has very limited access to good quality water and thus, rarely buy any bottled water due to also financial constraints.
So, going back to Plato's ideal state, is it fair, right, or ok for people in places like Mandetkene not to know that there's a world where people have constant guaranteed access to safe drinking water; where babies and kids don't die of drinking unsafe water? Is it fair, right, or ok to let people continue living in such a condition when we know that they can actually bring changes to their community; when it is absolutely feasible to have a sustainable water solution in their community; when us, on the other side of the globe are enjoying the stable water supply everyday? Is it fair, right, or ok to just let it be when we know of the various solutions to resolve the situation? Shouldn't we at least be grateful of what we have and be aware of that the same thing is not taken granted for on the other parts on this globe?
After all, we hope safe drinking water would cease being a luxury for people from every corner of the world in the 21st century.
We are glad that we came to this recognition during our stay in Cameroon, Foumban.
Peace,
Yoko and Maren
I remember our first week here, ahh, was such a struggle. Coming from a priviledged living envrionment where clean water access is granted, both of us absolutely lost it the first three nights at our house in Foumban because no water came out of the faucet and we thought it never would.
But as time went by, we kind of got used to the no-water situation. I started filtering water with the water purification kit I brought from Japan.
step1: Put half a spoon of the Poly-Glu powder into one 1.5L bottle of dirty water .
step 2: Stir and shake the bottle for ~10min and let it sit for ~5min.
step 3: Filter off the precipitation with a piece of clothes.
Before&After:
I repeated this whole prcess a few times during the first two weeks, but guess what: WATER CAME!!
Surprise, surprise. One afternoon, when one of us opened the faucet, we first heard some sucking noise and then water flowed out of the tap. Hahaha! We exclaimed in joy. However, the water went away at night.
Since then, the water has come and gone a few times on its own caprice.
Right now, we are on our third week here and living each hour with some wishful thinking that the water might come back in the next minute.
Peolpe in downtown Foumban don't seem to be bothered too much by the unpredictable nature of their water infrastructure. This reminded me of Plato's ideal state where the most happiness is achieved through sensoring information and limiting luxuries such as meat and pastries. In this particular situation, people are happy here due to that they have never experienced having water available at alltime through their water pipes; and that they don't know about the world where access to water is so easy and effortless. When inconveninece has become a part of our daily life, it would not be perceived as inconvenience anymore.
Downtown is alright, because if we need clean water, we can just go to the store and buy a bunch with our grant money.
But what about the locals who earn like 60 bucks every month? 1.5L×6bottles are sold at a price of 2.5 USD. The average size of a family here has more than 5 people. Even when both parents work they can only earn 120 bucks per month. They have to pay for rent, food, clothes, healthcare, e.t.c., just like us. What's left then to buy bottled water from the stores? Well, very little.
In the village (as you can see from the pictures below), there's no water piping for sure. People get water from river, and well (people were going to the well in the 3rd picture).
The doctor in the Mandetkene village recommended not to drink water from the river. Also, a few local residents mentioned that they would serve bottled mineral water only to guests, sick family members, little babies and pregnant women. People in the village has very limited access to good quality water and thus, rarely buy any bottled water due to also financial constraints.
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| Laundries are done by the river where people take drinking water from |
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| Kid from our camp drinking water from a bucket |
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| People carrying buckets to get water from their well (which does not offer clean drinking water according to the research cinducted by a w&l graduate two years ago) |
So, going back to Plato's ideal state, is it fair, right, or ok for people in places like Mandetkene not to know that there's a world where people have constant guaranteed access to safe drinking water; where babies and kids don't die of drinking unsafe water? Is it fair, right, or ok to let people continue living in such a condition when we know that they can actually bring changes to their community; when it is absolutely feasible to have a sustainable water solution in their community; when us, on the other side of the globe are enjoying the stable water supply everyday? Is it fair, right, or ok to just let it be when we know of the various solutions to resolve the situation? Shouldn't we at least be grateful of what we have and be aware of that the same thing is not taken granted for on the other parts on this globe?
After all, we hope safe drinking water would cease being a luxury for people from every corner of the world in the 21st century.
We are glad that we came to this recognition during our stay in Cameroon, Foumban.
Peace,
Yoko and Maren
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