Water is vital to all life, but there is not always enough for everyone in the world. Part of our work is helping our partner, AsoFenix, to install solar powered water systems. Since we have been in Nicaragua we have installed one system and there are two awaiting funding. Our systems use solar panels to provide energy to pump water from the well to large storage tanks. From the tanks water is gravity fed to the houses, so women and children no longer have to carry water.
Lately I have been thinking about how as North Americans we take for granted being able to turn on a faucet and have water when we want it. We have never had to walk several miles just to have drinking water or concerned ourselves whether our water is safe. We just assume the water we drink is safe and most likely it is. This month's National Geographic magazine focuses on Water. I thought water issues were bad here in Nicaragua, but it is not nearly as bad as other poorer places in the world (Africa and India). North Americans on average use 100 gallons of water a day, where as the world's poor get by with 5 gallons of water a day (National Geographic, The Burden of Thirst). That is incredible, no?? How about that the majority of the water in poorer countries is not potable, but the people have no other choice because we need water to survive. Around 3.3 million people, mainly children under 5 years old, die yearly due to dirty water, lack of sanitation and proper hygiene (National Geographic, The Burden of Thirst). It seems like providing clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene should be easy, but it does not happen and it is mainly due to lack of money. Check out the National Geographic website http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/table-of-contents
The articles I enjoyed the most were The Burden of Thirst and The last Drop.
Water is vital for all life, and with less than 1% of fresh water accessible to all of us (National Geographic, Editor's Note on Fresh Water) we all need to be cautious in how much we use.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Holy Week
Holy week, the week of Easter, is a big holiday week here in Nicaragua. In fact, many stores and businesses are closed for part of some or all of the week. For the time off people seek out water (beaches, rivers, lakes, pools, and even inflatable kiddy pools). This is a hotter time of the year, so it makes sense finding places to cool off. During the week people also spend time making baked goods, deserts and special dishes.
We spent the beginnig of the week with Ricardo and his family to celebrate Ricardo's birthday. We had a nice dinner at their house and spent time talking.
Later in the week we returned to Asiento Viejo to visit the Reyes. Santo taught me how to make a typical Holy Week desert called Amebar. Seth spent time with Ricardo and his sons building a house. Their eldest son, Ricardito, and his wife are building a house on his dad's land, so they have a home of their own as well as to keep a better eye on the land. Unfortunately, a week ago someone had gone on to their land at night and cut down all of their papaya and banana trees. Making Amebar is made from green papayas, green jocotes and non-ripe mangoes. The fruits are cooked with sugar, sugar cane, cinnamon, and cloves until the consistency is sticky like syrup. It is good, but very sweet.
Later in the week we were supposed to meet up with some friends at a river to go swimming. They were walking from their community and we drove in to the spot on our motorcycle. When we arrived at the spot there were so many people we were not able to find them, so we ended up finding a place to swim further down stream. The place we found was nice and we were the only ones there at the beginning. After spending some time in the water, Yeri, a young girl who lived nearby came up to us and asked us if we would like some arroz con leche (rice pudding). We said yes (it is very common for people in the country side to offer strangers food) and then enjoyed time talking and swimming with her. We found a place we will return to several times before leaving Nicargua.
We spent the beginnig of the week with Ricardo and his family to celebrate Ricardo's birthday. We had a nice dinner at their house and spent time talking.
Later in the week we returned to Asiento Viejo to visit the Reyes. Santo taught me how to make a typical Holy Week desert called Amebar. Seth spent time with Ricardo and his sons building a house. Their eldest son, Ricardito, and his wife are building a house on his dad's land, so they have a home of their own as well as to keep a better eye on the land. Unfortunately, a week ago someone had gone on to their land at night and cut down all of their papaya and banana trees. Making Amebar is made from green papayas, green jocotes and non-ripe mangoes. The fruits are cooked with sugar, sugar cane, cinnamon, and cloves until the consistency is sticky like syrup. It is good, but very sweet.
Later in the week we were supposed to meet up with some friends at a river to go swimming. They were walking from their community and we drove in to the spot on our motorcycle. When we arrived at the spot there were so many people we were not able to find them, so we ended up finding a place to swim further down stream. The place we found was nice and we were the only ones there at the beginning. After spending some time in the water, Yeri, a young girl who lived nearby came up to us and asked us if we would like some arroz con leche (rice pudding). We said yes (it is very common for people in the country side to offer strangers food) and then enjoyed time talking and swimming with her. We found a place we will return to several times before leaving Nicargua.
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