Public
Health-Access to Healthy Water
I have to admit that I was one person that
took the earth’s most natural resource for granted. I was very wasteful of water. I had no problem leaving the water running
while washing my dishes and brushing my teeth.
I used to wash my clothes with the highest water level for a small load.
I didn’t care anything about water until
one day my water was so rusty that it was the color of my skin and black grit
was left in the bottom of my tub. This
happened one morning as I was preparing to go to work. There was nothing I could do, the longer I
ran the water the darker it turned.
There was no way I was going to bath or cook using that water. I was fortunate enough that I was able to go
to someone else’s house to prepare for work. It was that day that I realized that some
people have no other choice but to use water that I refused to use.
While
researching this topic I remembered an episode of the Potter’s House that
talked about missionary work that was done in Africa. It stated that they went to Kenya, Africa to
drill water wells to help the people in that nation receive clean drinking water.
The people in West Pokot were walking 17 kilometers one way in order to obtain
contaminated water for their families. http://www.megacaremissions.org/humanitarian/fieldstory
In impoverished areas of the world such as
Kenya, Africa they are facing a severe drought.
The drought has caused the animals and people to search for the water. People have walked as far away as 20
kilometers a day just to get water for cooking. In their quest for water they
are sharing the water as a source of drinking, bathing and cooking with
animals. Furthermore, the water they have is polluted from chemicals from miners, farmers and others that have their buildings to close to the rivers and steams.
The missionaries
were able to strike a mega well and they were able to dig a 12 kilometer
pipeline to reach the tribes. To service the pipelines, they hired and trained
100 men from two local tribes. The
pipeline supplies water to thousands of people, goats, sheep, cattle, wild life
and crops.
Due to clean water the people are healthier, the women can stay home with their young and the children can get an education because they do not have to spend their day carrying water for 20 kilometers one way. http://www.megacaremissions.org
Due to clean water the people are healthier, the women can stay home with their young and the children can get an education because they do not have to spend their day carrying water for 20 kilometers one way. http://www.megacaremissions.org
Ever
since I realized that I took having water for granted, and watching the episode
on the Potter’s House about their missionary work in Africa, I have been more
aware of my wastefulness. I try not to be too careless. I have donated money to
the Potter’s House to help them continue their missionary work.
In my
school I have talked to my students about ways they can help people that are
less fortunate than them. We have had numerous
penny drives so we could donate money to different organizations.
I really enjoyed your post,sometimes we take certain necessity of life which has become luxury for us for granted.I used to waste water a lot myself but my experience while i was in Sokoto,the Northern part of Nigeria gave me a re-think.I had to look for water to bath one morning,I went to a water reservoir nearby,and immediately I told my friends i could not take my bath with it because it was looking very dirty,as I was talking,some young boys they were beggars requested for my bucket and to my surprise they drank the water,how ironical,I could not bath with it,yet someone drank it.public health is very important,the Northern part has the highest poverty rate in Nigeria, and water has become a challenge for the poor,a large number of young children suffer from various water borne diseases.e.g blindness among others
ReplyDeleteThis is a good topic many people take water for granted I have that trouble in my home when water is running for a long period of time and not being use at that time. Water for drinking everyone needs water to keep the kidnies working. We as people should look at the people in africa and be thankful for the water that we have.
ReplyDeleteI also created a post on water stress this week. It is so horrible to think that something that is so valuable to live is not available to every person in the world. If you would like a good site to research about what the United Nations are doing to try to fix this issue, you can visit: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml .
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