“El agua es la vida,” said my sweet host grandmother while explaining why our water had been off since 10PM the night before. It was already 1 in the afternoon.
While we had only been out of water for less than 24 hours, I realized how completely dependent I have been my entire life on running water.
Every night from 10PM (maybe even earlier) until 5:20AM, my house doesn’t have running water. At 5:20AM every morning, I wake up to the sound of water flowing through the pipes and filling up the toilet tank. ”If it’s yellow, let it mellow” is the overnight policy as you only get one flush.
My basic understanding of why this is, is that it has something to do with the water pumping station turning off the water for the night. Several houses in my neighborhood have water tanks on their roofs so that they can use water while the main line is off; my family doesn’t.
Wednesday morning, the sound of rushing water didn’t wake me up. I thought maybe I had missed it. But then, I tried to use the bathroom and found out the hard way. I couldn’t shower, wash my face or brush my teeth.
I went downstairs for breakfast and my host mom gave me a bowl of water to wash my face and brush my teeth. I attempted to stretch out the water as much as possible and managed to somewhat give myself a sponge bath.
I left for the training center, hoping that by the time I returned the water would be on again.
It wasn’t.
And I wasn’t prepared for not having it. In that moment, my mind raced and I thought about all of the things I relied on water for. I had been planning to do laundry that day. I wanted to shower. I needed to use the bathroom.
Fortunately for me, the people working on restoring water had it running by 1:30PM and the internal crisis I was facing was over.
I joined the Peace Corps fully knowing that I might be somewhere without running water and less accommodations and amenities than I have now. But, in those few hours when I was unexpectedly without, I realized how much I had taken running water for granted.
I’m grateful for this experience because I do feel slightly more prepared for the next two years. I’m sure this won’t be the last time my access to running water is interrupted. I still don’t know my permanent site, and I could be without it there.
More to come,
B
Brittany McGee 
LMAO!
There was this one time that my parents forgot to pay the water bill and the water was turned off at my home. Yep. I went into full panic. Being resourceful though, my dad piled all of kids in the car the next morning and took us to the nearby gym that we were members of to shower and prepare for school. Not really the same…but made me think of that time. Sounds like you’re doing great! Hoping for much water in your future. -EM