For those with a THIRST for knowledge - Part I

How to lose half of your growing blog following: transition from 13th century Franciscan philosophy to all-caps water puns...

Let's hope not.

But in all seriousness, I really wanted to write up a mini-series providing a little more background info for the water crisis in Africa. It's easy enough to acknowledge that "Africa needs drinking water": we see it all over the news all the time. But why? Why do so many countries within the continent continue to struggle with this fundamental necessity for survival while a majority of the world actively flushes the resource away?

It can be over simplified, and also analyzed to the point of reader-exhaustion, but I wanted to at least present my research on why Africa really labors to provide clean drinking water and sanitation to a large proportion of its populace.

It breaks down to 3 levels of deficiency within the water systems supplying these underprivileged communities.

•  No immediate access to clean drinking water - families either have to travel massive distances for clean water access or, in even worse scenarios, can only collect contaminated water that will make them sick

•  No lasting infrastructure to manage and distribute water once it is obtained - many initiatives will supply a quantity of drinking water but not a source, or delivery mechanism, to reach out to rural communities. This is a great start but, unfortunately, is like giving a travel-size toothpaste to a person with a history of dental problems. It is helpful, but very surface level

•  Improper sanitation that contaminates any water that is actually accessible - many times, policy work or charity intervention can alleviate the first two issues but the lack of integrated sanitation utilities (the other side of the issue; this component goes hand-in-hand with the drinking water crisis) ravages the newly provided water with human and animal contamination

As I progress in both my Ecology and Economics coursework, I am privileged to learn about a lot of the driving forces that cause and solve these obstacles... at least in theory. As I push forward in this research, and in my project, I am attempting to put this knowledge to work to make long-lasting change. That is why I chose Charity: Water. 

Until the next post in this series, check out their website! I am so excited to be working with them!

http://www.charitywater.org/

Peace, Water, and Climbing,

Chris