water

I realized the other day, while I was drinking my "cool wata" from the bag as we headed between orphanage homes, how so many things that are normal here would be so weird to do at home. Thirsty? Forget about bottled water. Get me a 5LD (about 8.5 cents) 500ml bag of cool mineral water out of the cooler on that old Ma's head. It does take some practice, be careful not to squeeze too hard. But, it sure is nice and refreshing on a hot Liberian afternoon.

In other water related news. . . the well at our house went dry. There is no municipal water in the entire country. Everyone exists on wells. Most people have to start their day before dawn by hauling water from a community well. At the ORR house we have a well inside the fence that we use for showers (outside under the stars) and bucket flushing the toilet. We buy drinking water for around 1-2 dollars per week. Last Friday the water in the well was low so we started rationing water. By Monday it was completely dry. You don't realize how much you take something for granted until you don't have it. With no water to flush the toilet or shower, well, you can imagine the consequences. We all started praying for rain. Thankfully some water found it's way to our well and by Wednesday we were back in the water business. Phew!