The Water has Arrived

It has rained straight for the past three days. Today, the contractors finished up their work and the wáter arrived in 9 houses, including mine. Each house has its own spigot in the yard. There are 15 more houses in the community without water, but the government funded budget of $9200 ran out before tubing could reach all of the houses. As a combination of it being the rainiest month of the year, the small number of houses connected to the system, and my house’s location near the bottom of the system, I currently have bountiful amounts of wáter to my availability.

I was sitting in my hammock watching the rain. I Heard the Chhhhh noise of air rushing through the tubes, and then Spfltttt, the dirty wáter started rushing out of my faucet! Although I have become very desanimada (discouraged) with this project, it was a special moment to to see water arriving to the houses. The first thing I did once the wáter cleared up was to fill up every bucket and gallon jug I have to my name. It will take me awhile to get used to having water nearby. I still feel the urge to fill my one gallon jug every time it starts to get empty, just in case the wáter stops.

I still leave some of my buckets under the eave of my house to collect rain water to wash dishes and bathe. Before this aqueduct, during the rainy season I would use filtered rain water to drink, and unfiltered rain water to cook, bathe, and wash dishes. During the dry season I would walk 4 minutes down a steep hill to fill up jugs of water, and 6 minutes down to the river to bathe and wash clothes. Most families in my area have a similar water situation except that they don't collect rain water due to lack of buckets and jugs. Nowhere in mountainous Panama is a drinking water source hours away, but nevertheless hauling water is a continuous chore that usually is the women and children's responsibility.

The amazing results I have witnessed so far:

• Teaching a little girl how to turn on and off the faucet
• Washing my feet all of time on the concrete platform
• Watching people wash their hands
• Thinking about the 88 year old grandmother who doesn’t have to hike down a slippery hill to bathe and fill wáter jugs anymore
• Showering there in the night time and hoping nobody will walk by