The Tale of Two Umudugudus (Villages)
September 9, 2010
By Michael J. Mascarenhas for the New York Times
Michael J. Mascarenhas is a World Water Corps volunteer currently on assignment in Rwanda. This is his fourth installment in the Scientist At Work blog on the New York Times web site.
It is difficult to account for the many effects on a community of having access to a clean and consistent supply of drinking water. Through a comparison of two umudugudus (villages), one with an improved source of water and the other without, I will try to document some of the themes that have occurred to me thus far. But before I begin this analysis I want to give a brief comparison of the two umudugudus.
The households we interviewed in the Gatobotobo Village get their water from unimproved springs or the Rwamugaza River, depending on the season. Because there is no consistent improved water source, the households in this village can spend a good portion of each day looking for and fetching water (this is particularly the case in the dry season). Furthermore, all the women we spoke with commented on how ephemeral their water source has been recently.
This inconsistency does not go away in the rainy season because the quality of the water from the river and larger springs is dramatically compromised, becoming more turbid and carrying more waste, mostly in the form of manure and human wastes.
During the rainy season households spend time looking for smaller, ephemeral streams because experience has proved such streams cleaner and safer. Furthermore, while village life is mostly cooperative, sharing resources and labor in informal relations, water scarcity has started to generate conflicts between otherwise agreeable neighbors.
The impacts of living under these conditions are complex. Because so much time is spent looking for water, other household chores and activities — washing clothes or making household improvements, to mention only two — cannot be accomplished. The simple act of bathing becomes compromised. Not knowing where and when the next jerrycan will be filled produces a sense of anxiety and stress that hangs over daily life.
What do you think?
