Re-entering hot season ... and what that has meant

Harmattan season is coming to an end which is a shame because with it goes the cool nights through which I was sleeping like a rock. I've started tossing and turning again and waking up drenched from sweat as my bed seems to do nothing but absorb the the heat; it literally feels like a hot pad when you touch it. Since it hasn't rained in months, the mosquitoes have disappeared for the most part, so I think I'll start sleeping on the cot I had made so that there can at least be some ventilation flowing under my back. Leaving for my moonlit 5AM runs (the sun doesn't come up until about 6:15 these days), I'm sweating from the humidity before I even begin.

I came back from Zanzibar to find the well in my compound pretty much dry. The little bit of water that remains on the bottom is filled with sediment, and you have to let it sit for hours to settle before you can actually use it. So hence began the problem of finding water; there ARE pumps in my village but they're a distance away from my house and with my schedule, I don't have the time to go fetch it myself (my neck strength is also questionable I suppose). The problem was: for whatever reason I was having problems finding girls who were available or responsible enough to come consistently to get me water - even though I pay well! It was an enigma to me considering how some other volunteer friends of mine in other villages have kids practically knocking down their doors willing to help get water - and here I couldn't even find one person. My host family in my compound use their little girl to fetch water for them, though she can only do it when she gets back from school, and then the lines by the pump are dozens of people long. So I felt bad asking that she get me water too, although my host mom would be generous enough to give me a share every now and again.

With the little bit i found, I learned to get satisfyingly clean on less than 2 liters of water when I showered. Dishes I'd use to cook with could be rinsed off with a minimal amount of water and then reused, making it possible for me to hold off washing dishes for a full week. To do laundry, I'd pack my dirty clothes into the saddle bags on my bike and bike 15km north to wash them with water from my closest volunteer neighbor's well (which is luckily still full); I'd spend the morning waiting for them to dry (the one nice thing about dry season is that clothes dry on the line almost 10 times faster) then fold them all up, pack them back into my bags, and bike back down on the now throat-choking dusty roads. On Tuesdays (market day in my village), I would stock up on the 500ml plastic bags of drinking water that the woman who comes in from Atakpame sells, though I was still drinking far less than I should.

About a week and a half ago, I was doing a talk in a neighboring small village of about 300 people on the topic of good nutrition. I was feeling dehydrated and exhausted and while the talk went well and I got a good response, the local school director who had invited me out there seemed to notice and, to his great concern, I told him about my problems finding water. Later that night, I felt unusually exhausted, my body felt achey, and I was running a small fever - all signs of dehydration. I chugged as much water as I could but the thing about being dehydrated is that there's no quick fix.

But I got a miracle the next day. I came back from working at the dispensaire to find 3 big plastic containers of water sitting on my porch (a total of several gallons of water). I nearly shrieked with delight - glorious water! As it turns out, after having dropped me back off at my house the previous day, the director of the school in the village where I'd taught had gone to the house of one of the local school directors in MY village where he had spoken with his wife. The next day she had sent her 2 youngest girls to fetch me water, which they have been doing ever since - getting me even MORE than I need! The abundance of water I've had since (which I pay for generously and gratefully) has allowed me to share with my host family as well, making life a little easier for them too. When I went over with brownies and a million of words of thanks to the wife of the school director who had pretty much saved me, her reaction was: "I just can't believe I didn't know you were suffering! I could have helped even sooner!" I was truly touched by the cooperative efforts of my village friends to help me out. Now I'm all set until once again the rainy season comes and we endure the opposite extreme of almost drowning in the abundance of water that falls from the sky.

And so, while I know many of you may be wishing for a quick end to the winter, don't forget what a blessing cool air and running, available (and especially cold) water can be! After my experience here I don't believe I'll ever take it for granted again.