Water

Water. I remember 5 years ago at the Pearson Seminar on Youth Leadership, I watched a documentary about Water. Why in the world would we watch a documentary on water? Clearly there is a lot of water in the world and in Canada it is abundant. We are home to some of the greatest sources of fresh water, the Great Lakes, and use water for everything in our life. It wasnt so much about whether or not there was water but rather the privatization of water. Who owns water and who determines the cost of water? What happens when people must pay for the most basic necessity of life? Here in Cabrera, however, Water seems to have a love-hate relationship with locals and myself.

I wake up in the morning and go to the washroom. I wash my hands and go eat breakfast. However, I do not drink water from out of a cup. Instead, I drink from the water bottle that I had filled up from the night before.

I go to the pre-school and work with the kids. At around 10:30, the kids line up to wash their hands so they can eat their snacks. One by one, they go into the bathroom and scoop water from a bucket the teachers saved earlier in the morning.

At the Esperanza Project, I go to use the washroom. The toilet smells bad because many people have went previously and havent flushed the toilet. Its not because they didnt want to but because there is no running water.

After a long, hot day in the sun, I go to shower. Water comes pouring out and it feels so good. Hot water? No. I get used to showering in cold water. To my amazement, once there was no water when I turned the water on to take a shower.

From my day to day activities, water seems to be lacking. Though there is often water to wash our hands with, yet there are times during the day we must live without it. We dont drink water from the tap, not even locals do. So we brush our teeth with water from the big 20L jugs of water. Filling one of those up costs between 20 - 40 pesos, a mere dollar. Why is it that we waste water in Canada when some people live without running water to do basic chores? Washing the dishes requires saving water from earlier in the day...

It seems, then, that water is a valued resource in Cabrera. Before we got here, it was said that there hasnt been a single drop of rain in 2 months. In fact, it has barely rained since January. Recently, however, it has rained almost daily. What is the reaction we see? Not what we would think.

Although water is a much needed resource, it seems to also be a detriment. When it rains, it is as though the whole town freezes. People stay in, dont go to school and life seems to become a waiting game. So as much as water is needed, people seem to not like the rain as much as they need it. Rumour also has it that rain is seen to be a big problem. Dominicans seem to think they can get deathly sick from being out in the rain. I dont exactly know why this love-hate relationship with water exists but it seems to be vitally needed yet also not too welcome sometimes.

From all this, though, I learn about the importance of living with what we have. Sure, not having running water all day makes life difficult but people get by and manage to live. Yet in North America, when something goes wrong we whine and complain because we are deprived of what we have become accustomed to. What is our relationship with our resources and how do we use them to our advantage? Clearly, the consumption of resources here is carefully managed. It makes me think about lent and giving up sweets, Facebook or TV for 40 days. What are those comforts really when it gets down to it? Those are things we can live without because they are our wants. What happens when what is taken away is a necessity? I think we need to look carefully at our realities and challenge ourselves to reduce our individual environmental impacts. What does water mean to you?