A Precious Commodity

I love the days that I get to go out for field work in the rural areas. The landscape is by far the most fascinating and diverse of any place in the world that I have ever been. One day I am watching an orange and purple sunset drop behind mountain peaks as I head for home and the next I am trekking into the interior across tree dotted plains under the bluest sky I have every seen. It is so beautiful here that I am convinced Kenya is the place that Mother Nature calls home.

Yesterday when I was out, I turned down a path that was lined on each side with three foot high walls made from brown rocks which wound along for at least a half mile. Every homestead along the path was fenced with matching stone walls.

I am sure that the rocks had been painstaking pulled from the earth over the years as the residents in the area cleared bits of land for farming. I can not even imagine how many years it took to construct these walls or how many hours it took to clear just a small parcel of land. I found the home I was to visit resting at the end of the path in the bend of a raging river.

It was the kind of place that if discovered in American it would have been the perfect country retreat -- a safe haven from the hustle and bustle of our busy world. Of course in American the land would have been a developers dream. The woman who owns the property would like to sell it so she could buy something closer to the nearest village. As I learned this, I struggled to understand why. In addition to being a truly picturesque property, here she has easy access to one of the most priceless commodities around – water.

I have been to homes in urban areas that only have access to water one day a week and a person has to wait in line for a turn at the tap --- hoping that the water will stay on long enough for them to have a chance to fill a single bucket. People in both the urban or rural areas put out pots and various containers to catch as many precious drops of rain as they can when it falls. In rural areas the nearest water source might be five miles away necessitating several trips by foot a day just to retrieve enough water for their families use. Water collection is a time-intensive pursuit which is considered ‘women’s work’ and can often prevent girls from attending school and women from taking up income generating activities to sustain their families.

When I first saw this small pool of cloudy water pictured above during a home visit on Wednesday, I thought perhaps this is where the family bathed and/or washed their utensils. I was quickly corrected that this water was much too precious to be used for such purpose. This is where everyone in the area comes to gather water for drinking.

According to an Eldoret-based NGO (Non-government Organization) dealing with water and sanitation in the town’s slums, ten people in Kenya die every day as a result of contaminated water consumption. In just the time it took you to read this posting, about two children will have died from waterborne diseases. Those of us in the world with access to safe, unlimited water at the turn of a tap or a twist of a bottle cap certainly take a lot for granted.