Ahh! Just one more day of staggering in this land of blistering sun and the odd-shaped rocks do not help at all as I walk exhausted with bruises nearly cutting my leg into two pieces. My muddy bucket seemed like a heavy missile in my hand filled with water, but I knew it was hardly sufficient to last half a day.
Many days forces me to bring back an empty bucket because of the Fulani and Hausa tribes that are exercising their dominance over their land. But there are also days when flies fly around as me and fellow villagers watch on as industrial wastewater engulfs the village well that seemed to be the only thing helping our malnourished lean bodies to wake up and see the next day.
The route back was stinking worse than the bushes in which tramps have often egested in. That was when I was able the make its shadow from the barren land full of sand and heat.
It was a young sparrow that was not able to make it through the heat and the water scarcity. This caused tears to swell up in my eyes. But nonetheless, everyone in Nigeria knew that we had to continue life in these adverse conditions in the hope of something different to happen the next day, often with people dying never even seeing a glimpse of that far-fetched dream.
A desolate town of the Christian community in land of Nigeria appeared as I was fuelled with the joy that I had reached home. A variety of huts came into view as I gathered speed as I approached our mud of a home.
A parched voice that belonged to my mother greeted me in.
She immediately examined me with her mother hawk eyes as she glanced at the bucket and placed it on the stick slab. I really loved that creation of mine particularly as that was the last thing I did with my grandfather. Sadly, just after we completed the finishing he died of a heat stroke, something that has left a deep scar in my life.
I remember one of his catchphrases that he always recited in Igbo: Life has to move on no matter what.
I really wanted to have a breather, but I knew this was just the start of a busy day. As I did not go to school, I was kept busy selling various handicrafts made by me and my mother in the town. I always made sure not to venture far too much in the north, which was where the Hausa tribe dwelt and breaching their territory was surely suicide.
Half of the things, I had to sell was cheap stuff that would fetch us some loose cash as savings.
That was when I got the sight of some distinct people wearing khakis. They were this organization that aimed and making life better in Nigeria, but I knew that seemed far too imaginative. It seemed foolish to even imagine me going to school. Instead, I continued my day accepting what fate had bestowed upon me.
An unpaved road went ahead as it led north, a place which was good for business due to the many paying customers. I caught the gaze of many fellow Nigerians as they too toiled in the hot sun. We were often barefooted and having blistery feet was a common sight in Nigeria. That reminded me about those imaginative organization guys who had this thing on their feet. I am pretty sure it’s called something like shhh-oww-s. That was way too fancy for my Igbo tongue to say.
I reached the market where I spent most of the evening as I made sales. But due to the scorching heat, I was forced to leave earlier than usual. I scrambled back home in glee to finally rest but I was dejected and disappointed with myself to have lost the opportunity to make some money.
As I reached home, I saw my mom and dad who had just returned from his work at the field where he earned about 1/10 of his already low promised salary. They were standing talking to somebody. I tried to eavesdrop but there seemed to be someone speaking in Igbo as well as some foreign language. That was when I realized they were talking to the organization people, who were about earlier.
My parents caught sight of me and immediately I realized that I was not expected to be this early. I took a brave step ahead running all the details in my mind and wondered what these people wanted from me. I had heard tales of how they took children to Lagos, a city where clean water came in a metal tube.
I scanned the two men, one of them seemed to be the Igbo translator. I was made to sit down on one of these things that they had brought with them that they referred to as a chair. I must accept that it seemed pretty lavish, and I enjoyed myself. But that was when I was updated with the discussion. Apparently, these random people had decided that I needed a well-rounded education, and they would take me with them to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria (so the rumours were true) with annual visits from my parents. And this came at absolutely no costs.
They even provided me with some Igbo books as well as a beginner’s English book to go through before I would have to embark on a journey with them to Lagos if my parents agreed with their offer. This of course melted my parents who would really enjoy the thought of me being educated and considered it as a golden opportunity to do so.
A lot has happened in my life since then and I have progressed in ways I have never imagined. But it hurts to see that in this modern world, people are unwary of the tough life in other parts of the world and wastewater and resources unnecessarily. If there is one takeaway, everyone in developed nations need to be mindful of their riches in the form of water and imagine a life without it. It might sound hard but numerous people in developing countries face this every day mainly due to the wrath of human induced pollution and other activities that harm nature.
Life on Land- SDG 15
As many of us might know there is no chance water will run out on earth. With two-thirds of our planet consisting of water and replenishment and distribution of water through the water cycle we may think there is absolutely no reason to worry about.
Well switch off your taps!! Water may be abundant as a natural resource but who’s to supply freshwater. I for one would not fancy drinking salty water from the oceans or dirty water.
However with the light that only 3% of water is available for usage the figure keeps decreasing and why is that? Well again its because of anthropogenic activities. Over 829,000 Deaths Occur Annually Due to Unsafe Water. Mining and deforestation ruin others lives due to unsafe water. But you may wonder what can we do about it.
Like mentioned in this story it is vital that voluntary organizations like Save the Child, UNHCR, UNICEF and others step up and do their roles. But this task is not only for them. It is also for us individuals to do. Everyone on earth has equal responsibility for the shortage of drinking water.
Remember you may have clean water today but the same cannot be said tomorrow as well. At this rate we may have wars over water!!! Hence let us step into our shoes and do what we can to save water.
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Cover Image Credits: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/africa-dirty-water
Inside Image Credits: https://www.britannica.com/story/water-scarcity-facts-and-statistics
https://wellcome.org/news/world-running-out-freshwater
https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/people-drinking-dirty-water-africa.html
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/afrika-marktplatz
https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/sunset-nigeria.html
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Excellent read Ethan, water is precious and your article makes this fact crystal clear!