How Is Your Water?

Water. It’s basic. But, it’s my favorite beverage and I like mine without  frozen particles of H2O in it. Extra smiles over here if I have a few slices of lime to put in my glass. I never thought about it until recently but I realized that all the water I drink, I buy at the store and usually it’s packaged in plastic and then wrapped in plastic.

I buy 8oz bottles for the convenience of having water I can manage nearby at night. I buy 12oz bottles for when I'm out and about and I buy gallon sized or 2.5 gallon jugs for my daily consumption at home.  I never run out of water. When I travel, I expect to get my water in the same way and for the most part it’s convenient and it works well. But, Guatemala was different. It gave me a new word to describe my water. And that word is clean.

One night after dinner, I asked how I could help to straighten up and get ready for the next day. I was assigned the task of filling up the water filter. This is something that must be done so that there is clean water available for drinking and cooking. I walked back and forth  to fill a basin with water from an outside tap in the darkness of the night, with only a solar lamp dimly lighting the path and then emptied the water into the 5 gallon filtration container in the kitchen. I made three trips and the bucket wasn't even completely full yet.  It was my first time doing this and I felt like it was a lot. I even said out loud, in a low voice, in Spanish, it's too much. Everyone close enough to hear me chuckled. I was new to this.  It had been a  long day and I felt like a child for my response. Even though I was tired, I didn't mean it in a complaining way,  but I imagined what it might be like doing this every day, possibly several times each day.

Where I live, clean water comes out of the tap like magic. And what felt worse, is that I don't even drink that water. I use it for cleaning dishes or washing clothes or mopping the floor.  I  began to understand in a new way, that not all people have access to clean water to support the most basic activities of daily living. I am writing this in the year 2021 and it bothers me.

Imagine not having water. Not in the way where if  you ran out, you could just buy more or drink something else, but  think of not having water in a way where what was available to you could make you and your family sick. Think of not having water you could safely  brush your teeth with  or use for cooking or feeding your livestock. In many of the communities we visited in different parts of the country, I saw firsthand how valuable and unavailable clean water was and how much effort is required to collect and store it properly.

There is a distinct difference between having it in mind that somewhere out there in the world fellow humans don't have consistent access to a most basic resource and experiencing it for yourself. I haven't  stopped thinking about it. I've been back home in the Pacific Northwest for a few weeks now and I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the water. I have yet to find a more sustainable solution for my own consumption but I have decided to make a difference by donating water filters that will prevent illness for families and provide clean water that I previously took for granted. Many thanks to Miracles in Action for making it easy for me to make that contribution.

Miracles In Action is a non-profit organization  that supports projects in Guatemala and strives to make a lasting impact on the lives of poorest of the poor. 100% of all donations made go towards the projects and you can choose what projects you feel most connected to and their website allows you see how you can make an impact at any budget. Visit www.miraclesinaction.org to learn more.