“Rain rain go away” … better yet send it Nairobi way!
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 30/Jul/2009 13:32, 34 days ago
Nearly every day I hear news from Ontario, complaining about the rainy and wet summer this year which has resulted in flooded basements, weekends indoors and ruined holiday plans. I even saw a headline in the online version of the Ottawa Citizen calling it the“Summer from Hell”. (And I wondered “Isn’t Hell supposed to be hot and dry?”… but anyway, I digress…)It reminded me very quickly how we live in world of contrasts. The exact opposite is happening in Kenya, to the point that there is a water crisis in Nairobi as well as many other parts of the country. The rainy season, which is just ending now, wasn’t rainy at all. In fact, I can easily estimate the number of times I had to take out my umbrella. And the dust in the dry air near my home and my work makes breathing outside rather unpleasant on most days (especially combined with the diesel fumes!)As a result of the drought, water rationing has started in Nairobi and many residents now only have water 1 day per week. A blind young lady from Morocco who works at the Africa Union of the Blind just told me she has not had water for more than 20 days in her house (when it does come, she’s told the pressure isn’t enough for it to be pumped up to the roof of her building.) Schools, businesses and home owners alike are paying private companies up to pump in water. Today’s newspaper reports that a girl’s secondary school near my work is spending Ksh 18,000 (Cdn $300) per weekto have water trucked in, else they would have to close down. The school has resorted to a priority formula: when they get water they use it for cooking, drinking and cleaning washrooms and if there is any left the girls can bathe and wash their clothing. In lower income areas where pumping water isn’t an option, people are spending Ksh 80 (Cdn $1.30) for a 20-litre jerry can of water – it might not sound like much, but with extremely high unemployment this can be devastating for some families. The government is working to dig 50 bore holes in the most densely populated estates, however for many it can’t come soon enough.I’m reminded of the song “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til its gone”… and ready to do a rain dance for Kenya. :-)