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Saturday, April 29, 2017
Friday, April 28, 2017
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Thursday, April 20, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
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Thursday, April 13, 2017
Two girls intensely discussing egg dyeing techniques while baby sis got hungry and started eating them!
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Sunday, April 9, 2017
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Fun with mud. It's what you do when you need to get your wiggles out after a rainstorm!
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Friday, April 7, 2017
Water
I got an email from my aunt yesterday; she taught at MSU for many years and was passing on an interesting article about students from there who are putting their studies to work this summer here in Kenya. This blog post has been circulating in my mind since January…it’s time for an update on the water situation here…
The rains are late this season, but each night last week a little more fell and it feels hopeful. When the “short” rains didn’t come as they usually do in November, we knew that this year would be different. We knew that the drought would affect farmers worse than city dwellers. But honestly, we grew up in California where drought has been a reality for much of our lives. "How bad can it be?" we thought. After all, we knew about having a bucket in the shower with you to collect grey water and not flushing the toilet unless you had to—all those tips and tricks. Many of you reading this can identify with constant reminders to ration and then (before your rains came finally this winter), the imposition of government-imposed days when you could use water on your plants. You saw prices increase and fines for overuse.
When we heard about the desperate measures being taken in California last year, we shook our heads in disbelief. Then one day here, we turned on the tap and nothing. Not a drop came out. The city of Nairobi had simply turned off the water to the millions of residents.
There is something unthinkable to our American mindset when choice is taken away from a person.
The following is part of an email sent out a few months ago from the school’s Director of Operations in an effort to help us conserve and to understand the situation better. (The rest of his email is at the end of this post with some interesting facts about just how much water certain daily activities use up.)
We are the lucky ones, however. As usual, hardship strikes hardest those who can least afford to manage it. We know of some areas of the city where water is only turned on for 2 days a week from midnight-6am. Imagine getting up in the middle of the night, gathering every possible container and filling them at 20 times the normal price and then spending all night getting them back to your home? Here on campus we have some storage tanks and a bore-hole (which takes lots of energy from the generator pumping it into the tanks). Measures are always in place to conserve. Priority goes to the school and the 700 students who attend and need to have basic hygiene covered so there is no outbreak of disease. Sometimes the water to the houses on campus has been shut off manually to make sure the school can operate.
It has been a challenge, to be sure-especially with the care and feeding of three adventurous (read: dirt-loving) daughters, one of which is still in (cloth!) diapers. And still, I constantly remind myself that we have it pretty good.
Everywhere in Eastern Africa is suffering: some worse than others. When Kirk traveled just 40 km away on CFS, the village he spent time in had not seen any rain since last August. When his group came, they brought their own water so as not to be a burden. One of their “activities” was to walk 10km to the contaminated water that the residents bring back to wash their clothes in. Kirk and each student on the trip was acutely aware of the privilege they had to be able to buy clean water, even needing to refill halfway through despite the fact that they were only using it for drinking and cooking. Nothing “extra” like washing their clothes or bodies. (We sent him with baby wipes to keep from getting sick). This is a reality for more people in the world than we like to think about.
Since January, it’s been 2 minute showers when the water is flowing and bucket showers when it’s not. But you know what? It’s not that hard to adjust once you get into the habit: we have saved washing and dishwater and have even managed to keep a garden of water-loving tomato plants alive. The girls LOVE bucket baths (they actually cheer!) and maybe that’s the trick-embracing this new reality. Caring for the things that we tend to take for granted. Feeling a sense of (admittedly small) solidarity with the rest of the world.
World Water Day (March 22) has come and gone and we are still without rain or a consistent water supply. Did you know there was such a day? These powerful images might change your view about something we have forgotten to view as a luxury.
Mercifully, last night, it rained all through the night. I have never appreciated water so much before.
I wonder, will we continue these practices when water is readily available again? Will we forget the pinch and worry of saving water in every container to use in cooking and drinking? Or will we waste it when not faced the reality on a daily basis? Will we think we deserve it? Can we remember what it felt like to be defenseless?
----
Here's the rest of the Director of Operation's email about water usage:
The rains are late this season, but each night last week a little more fell and it feels hopeful. When the “short” rains didn’t come as they usually do in November, we knew that this year would be different. We knew that the drought would affect farmers worse than city dwellers. But honestly, we grew up in California where drought has been a reality for much of our lives. "How bad can it be?" we thought. After all, we knew about having a bucket in the shower with you to collect grey water and not flushing the toilet unless you had to—all those tips and tricks. Many of you reading this can identify with constant reminders to ration and then (before your rains came finally this winter), the imposition of government-imposed days when you could use water on your plants. You saw prices increase and fines for overuse.
When we heard about the desperate measures being taken in California last year, we shook our heads in disbelief. Then one day here, we turned on the tap and nothing. Not a drop came out. The city of Nairobi had simply turned off the water to the millions of residents.
There is something unthinkable to our American mindset when choice is taken away from a person.
The following is part of an email sent out a few months ago from the school’s Director of Operations in an effort to help us conserve and to understand the situation better. (The rest of his email is at the end of this post with some interesting facts about just how much water certain daily activities use up.)
According to Rain Harvesting Pty Ltd of Australia, every human being needs a bare minimum of 20 liters of clean water per day for drinking and sanitation. Much of the world gets far less than this, and often it is not clean. People ought to drink between 2-3 liters of water per day, apparently. (Does coffee count?)I used to turn on the tap without thinking. Now, we have settled into a new pattern where water comes in through the pipes from outside a few days a week (but now the “schedule” of it is extremely unpredictable—we rely on a daily email letting us know if we have water coming in or not). The embassy housing next door and several expat compounds in the city have had to have water trucks bring in extras, at an additional cost. Though steep, it is still within reach for these groups.
In highly developed countries where clean water is available 24 hours a day, the average consumption level is around 100 liters per person, and this includes usage for more than just drinking and personal hygiene (i.e. laundry, watering gardens, cleaning vehicles, etc). In contrast to this average, the US consumes 400+ liters of water per day per person! The UK is at 150 L, and Germany at 130 L.
I mention this to bring context to our own situation. Our tower tank has a capacity of 48,000 Liters. We tend to easily use a full tank in a day. If during a normal school we have approximately 1,000 people on site, that is about 48 Liters per person per day.
Our tower tank is supported by a ground cistern that holds about 260,000 liters, though we rarely ever see it full. With normal usage without constraints, we can use this up in 3-5 days. Fortunately, we can slow this process down with assistance from our borehole.
We are the lucky ones, however. As usual, hardship strikes hardest those who can least afford to manage it. We know of some areas of the city where water is only turned on for 2 days a week from midnight-6am. Imagine getting up in the middle of the night, gathering every possible container and filling them at 20 times the normal price and then spending all night getting them back to your home? Here on campus we have some storage tanks and a bore-hole (which takes lots of energy from the generator pumping it into the tanks). Measures are always in place to conserve. Priority goes to the school and the 700 students who attend and need to have basic hygiene covered so there is no outbreak of disease. Sometimes the water to the houses on campus has been shut off manually to make sure the school can operate.
It has been a challenge, to be sure-especially with the care and feeding of three adventurous (read: dirt-loving) daughters, one of which is still in (cloth!) diapers. And still, I constantly remind myself that we have it pretty good.
Everywhere in Eastern Africa is suffering: some worse than others. When Kirk traveled just 40 km away on CFS, the village he spent time in had not seen any rain since last August. When his group came, they brought their own water so as not to be a burden. One of their “activities” was to walk 10km to the contaminated water that the residents bring back to wash their clothes in. Kirk and each student on the trip was acutely aware of the privilege they had to be able to buy clean water, even needing to refill halfway through despite the fact that they were only using it for drinking and cooking. Nothing “extra” like washing their clothes or bodies. (We sent him with baby wipes to keep from getting sick). This is a reality for more people in the world than we like to think about.
 |
| This is the water that the Masai fetch to wash their clothes in. This is at the beginning of the washing, not the end. |
Since January, it’s been 2 minute showers when the water is flowing and bucket showers when it’s not. But you know what? It’s not that hard to adjust once you get into the habit: we have saved washing and dishwater and have even managed to keep a garden of water-loving tomato plants alive. The girls LOVE bucket baths (they actually cheer!) and maybe that’s the trick-embracing this new reality. Caring for the things that we tend to take for granted. Feeling a sense of (admittedly small) solidarity with the rest of the world.
World Water Day (March 22) has come and gone and we are still without rain or a consistent water supply. Did you know there was such a day? These powerful images might change your view about something we have forgotten to view as a luxury.
Mercifully, last night, it rained all through the night. I have never appreciated water so much before.
I wonder, will we continue these practices when water is readily available again? Will we forget the pinch and worry of saving water in every container to use in cooking and drinking? Or will we waste it when not faced the reality on a daily basis? Will we think we deserve it? Can we remember what it felt like to be defenseless?
----
Here's the rest of the Director of Operation's email about water usage:
For your own understanding of how much of our water is consumed by certain home activities, and how you might reduce these amounts, take a look at these consumption rates below:
Bathtub: On average, a bath use about 80 liters, though can be much higher depending on how full you make it. We recommend that you fill baths only with the amount of water you actually need, and less (i.e. bucket baths) when water is scarce. Also, rather than pulling the plug after a bath, direct the used bathwater via bucket to your household plants.
Showers: an average 8-minute shower uses about 60 liters. However, our water pressure on much of the campus is very high, and if you are showering using full volume (i.e. Power-shower), the consumption can be up to 130 liters for the same amount of time. We recommend that you try to take 4-5 minute showers on low volume - this might equate to about 30-35 liters of usage.
Flushing toilets: Every flush consumes about 8-9 liters of water. Recommendation is to flush only as really needed.
Teeth Brushing: This should consume less than a liter of water, but if you allow the faucet to run while brushing, you can easily use 6+ liters.
Laundry: Most newer models use about 90 liters per load (older models use closer to 150 liters).
Washing dishes: most of us do not have machine dishwashers which use between 20-50 liters per cycle, but instead wash by hand. Depending on you how efficient you are, washing by hand can use 15-100 liters for the same load. The obvious recommendation here is to not let the water run while you wash every dish. Rather, it's best to have two basins to work in - one with hot, soapy water for soaking, and the other with warm water for a rinsing.
Outdoor watering: With a hose turned on full, usage is at about 9 liters per minute! When your gardener takes a hour to water the plants around your house, he consumes about 540 liters of water! Compounded around multiple houses, thousands of liters each day are typically used on gardening. That rate is the same for washing vehicles, using the same hose-pipe. We recommend that during this dry season, that you divert used bathwater as much as possible to the watering of your plants. For vehicles, the recommendation is to use a 10 liter-bucket of soapy water, and a bucket of clean water for rinsing.
I hope you found this information useful. Let's working together to conserve water during this dry season.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Saturday, April 1, 2017
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