Here Comes the Rain

One of the biggest challenges for most families in Cape Verde is securing enough water for daily needs. In the village we are in now, most families have indoor plumbing, but the water may only work one day a week for a period of a few hours or even a few minutes. In order to get enough water for normal weekly activities, families leave the faucet “on” at all times (just in case) and catch water in large barrels that they take from over a span of several days. During the rainy season, it is also possible to trap water from roofs and store the water in concrete tanks beneath the house. Many families in our village use donkeys to fetch water on a daily basis. This is usually a job for children who ride on the donkey to the village water reserve tank to fill up barrels that the donkey will carry back home. Sometimes women accompany the children and carry buckets of water on their heads, but children often handle the task on their own. Since water is so difficult to come by, we’ve been very aware of our water use over the last three weeks. Here are some ways that our activities have been different than the US:

We take bucket baths using about 2 liters/person for a complete body wash and shampoo, scrub a few loads of laundry using a small bucket of water and a washboard,
infrequently “flush” the toilet (flush = pour a bucket of water into the bowl),
Wash hands by pouring water from a small cup over hands, and
Allow family animals to drink from water left from dish-washing and pour the rest over kale grown in containers.

Today our area received the first rainfall of the year, and families are excited about the growing season to follow as well as the relative ease of access to water. Things should start getting green around here over the next couple of weeks. It will be exciting to watch the changes!
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We wanted to post some photos, but it`s pretty hard to get the photos on the blog. Please be patient!