Water

One lady carrying buckets down to be filled. Two ladies carrying full buckets back to their homes.

Water, most of us take it for granted. Living in the United States, we think nothing about it. It is available whenever we want for whatever we want. We can get clean safe drinking water anytime of the day. We can, and do, take hot or cold showers daily, or more often if so desired. We use water to wash our dishes, clothes, pets, and cars, and to water our lawns. I guess the closest I have come to not having water, was when we moved to California in 1992 during a drought. We could not water our yards and had to plant drought resistant trees. When I first started coming to Honduras, I still had hot running water in which to take a shower. There is running water at Casa de Esperanza, my house, and the dorm. Not that I would drink the water from the tap for any reason. Most water in Honduras is not purified and makes Hondurans sick. It would surely make me sick. I never really thought about the difficulties of someone not having water. Even when I saw people bathing and washing their clothes in a river. Thousands of people in Honduras do not have running water. And for those that do, generally, the water just runs for two hours a day. People own huge water tanks and turn the water on and let it run for the whole two hours and collect it in their tanks. People save for years in order to have enough money to have running water in their homes, only to find out that does not include the piping that runs to their house. Those that have water, do not have hot water, not even warm water. In town a restaurant may have two faucets, but no water ever comes out of the hot side. There is only cold water availables, so water does not flow from the faucet marked hot.

Since I have been in Honduras full time, I have realized the difficulties for people not having water. There is the river, which usually involves a lengthy walk. The other day while we were building the kindergarten in Nuevo Oriental, the water truck came. There was a lot going on that day, with the building team and Magi boxes were being distributed. (Yes, they were for Christmas, but they were on that container that did not get here until January4.) The water truck drove into the village and began to honk. People dropped what they were doing and scattered in all directions. I dropped what I was doing and stood amazed at what was happening. People, young and old alike, were running to their homes and were returning with containers of all shapes and sizes, the biggest being 55 gallon drums. A water hose was connected to the truck and everyone began to fill their containers. The water truck waited until everyone that brought containers had filled them before leaving. I watched as people walked up the hills carrying their buckets, taking great care not to spill a single drop. A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. This was a heavy load for most. The 55 gallon drums were filled with water, but left at the bottom of the hill. After people got their smaller containers home, they returned to take another load of water from the drums. I was not able to stay around and see how long it took to get all those drums emptied. The water those people took to their homes will have to suffice for 3 or 4 days as the water truck only comes twice a week. I still wonder how they bathe. I guess they still have to walk to the river. This time of year the rivers and streams are getting low and will get a lot lower before they start filling again.

These are some of the lucky ones; some villages don't have a water truck at all.

Terri