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Metsi! Agua! Water!

By teniolab

While living in the Southern Africa region, I have been able to encounter and learn about the lifestyles of people from South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. I have begun to understand the territory that comes with living in a developing country.

One recurring struggle that I have encountered is the issue of with water insecurity. Botswana is a land-locked country. Water is imported from dams in South Africa. Also, rainwater is collected in dams situated in cities all over the country. Having running water available across campus and in the dorms was expected just as you would expect the sun to be shinning every day. Then when I least expected, the spout in the 3rd-floor bathroom of UB's Main lecture hall ran dry. Just like that, you start to become more conscious about how much one relies on running water to complete tasks.

For Batswana, the inconsistencies in water is not a major issue. Most families in their homes store water in empty soda bottles or in giant storage containers. If you are able to afford it, some people will have the ever-so sustainable rainwater collection tanks on their properties. My first reaction to the lack of water shock, but then I became overwhelmed with a calming sense shortly after. I understood that the water issue was something I was eventually going to have to face (shout-out to the CIEE student blog posts for preparing me). More or less, I wished I knew to what extent would a region-wide water shortage affect me on campus. A notice was delivered by my program director. My roommate told me the day before that the water tanks on campus would be turned on for these purposes. With the help of my type-B personally and two 5 liter bottles of water purchased from the nearest Spar, I was able to make it through my first week-long water shortage. I had assumed that the Gaborone dam water levels must be low. But it turned out that a water pipe had broke, so all water was "shut off" in the Greater Gaborone area and surrounding parts. Most of the campus had running water. There were just a few campus buildings here and there that did not.

It is just better to be proactive. Keep a 5-liter bottle of water in your room. Invest in a bucket for those emergency bucket bath times.

In areas surrounding Gaborone, water resources are more scarce. About two weeks ago, I spent the week in a rural village called Kanye (yes, it is in fact, West of Gaborone). During this time, we observed the administration of rural medicine in the clinics. I stayed with a lovely host family. According to my Kanye mom, it rarely ever rained in Kanye. The plants and crops were always dying. In her home, there would be running water for 5-6 days at a time then it would randomly shut off anywhere from an hour to a week. On the daily, I took my bucket bath. The stored water was boiled on an open-flame stove. I would fetch my bucket filled a quarter way with cold water and add the boiled water on top. The days when the water was shut off. We made do. Dishes just sat in the sink until it came back on. A water bucket was always stationed outside the bathroom so that you could flush your business.

Regardless of the circumstances, it is easy to adjust and adapt your behavior to that of the locals. Water insecurity is not an issue I would normally have to face, but it is important for me to observe first hand how a population is coping. In these spaces, a mutual exchange of knowledge can be shared to build upon each other's actions and values to create more consistences in access to running water.