The problem with d'oh! Or d'eau, water.

Water is one of those things that most people in the developed world take for granted. I can honestly say that I am not technically-minded enough to understand how water works. All I know is that sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't. Most recently, water was out for 10 days, making the record of days without water, and also the record number of days without bathing. The reason? The contractors who are building the road for the national agro-pasto comice (scheduled to take place in December, and all they have done is destroyed the sides of the already paved road). A major difference between developing and developed nations is thoughtful planning. The contractors, apparently, decided to start building the road without first talking to the water and electricity societies, meaning they just bulldozed over the existing infrastructure, chewing up our water pipes and electric lines. In addition to breaking the pipes, they also refused to fix them, meaning that until I got really pissed off and went to the regional delegate of agriculture, threatening the impending arrival of my supervisor, nothing happened. And the only reason our water tubes were fixed was because I am white. And also because I demanded justice. There is an expression here, when I am in my rights I don't budge. So, knowing my rights to justice and needing someone to take responsibility, I got water fixed in my village.

With the visit of my director, we visited my supervisor, who is responsible for many of the water projects, Peace Corps and not, in the South. He dragged us all out to a village about 5 km from my house to visit a former water project of a PCV. He told us that there were problems, but I didn't realize the extent of the problem until we talked to the chef of the village. The village, divided into two quartiers, has water conflict issues. They are all the same family, but what does that mean when you see that your water site is a little bit en brousse and the other quartier doesn't have to walk more than a minute to get water. So, the quartier up the hill is not only jealous that their point is less developed, but when there are water problems, it is the first site affected. This, of course, is all determined by the geographical features of the village and the fact that the water point is gravity-fed, not a pump. So vandilism happens. Tubes are broken, whether on accident or on purpose, and fingers get pointed. The chef, of course, denies all responsibility, and blames the quality of tubes, when the committee d'eau never finished their work with burying the tubes, leaving many of the sections exposed above ground. With a motivational talk from Hans, my supervisor, the village seemed to understand that it is their responsibility to take care of their water source, as les etrangers are not affected whether the village of Olem has water or not.

Which brings me to some of the many fears I have with doing my water project. Although the village is wonderful and has a strong sense of community, there are so many things that could go wrong. And once you get used to having an improved water source, it is not easy to go back when something breaks, which it inevitably will.