Project Concern International (PCI)

Maji Na Usafi Kwa Maisha Bora!
("Safe water for a healthy life!")

By Janine Schooley, PCI Staff

Water has been on my mind lately. This is not only because I am here in Tanzania for PCI’s new Starbucks/Ethos-funded water and sanitation project, but for many other reasons as well. PCI, with its implementing partner, ADRA/Tanzania, and its collaborating partners, WaterAid Tanzania and the Babati District Council, have come together to officially launch and plan for our BAHEWASA Project. (By the way, BAHEWASA stands for Babati Water for Health in Swahili.)
So, what else is making me think a lot about water these days? Water is running through our planning for the project of course. We are learning a lot about the need and demand for water; clean water for drinking, but also water for livestock, for cooking, cleaning, growing food, and overall survival. But it’s not just that. It’s the fact that water here is a microcosm of the contradictions that are Africa. I’m sure you are wondering what I mean by that. I mean that water is both scarce and abundant, important for the poor as well as for the privileged, a symbol of tradition as well as a symbol of our modern times.
Here in Tanzania it is the "wet season". It has been raining almost every day, almost all day sometimes, since I arrived in Tanzania. Sometimes it comes in sprinkles and passes quickly. Other times it pours like I’ve never seen water pour, from the sky, and runs in raging rivers through a town or village.

On the other hand, when you ask anyone in the village of Vilima Vitatu (3 Hills), one of the 11 villages selected for BAHEWASA implementation in Year 1 (total population approximately 31,000), what they most want or need, the answer will come back a unanimous: "water!" Some villages have less than 1 water point per 1,000 population. Imagine what that would be like: have 5 bathrooms and a kitchen in my house in San Diego. That adds up to about 12 water points, not counting the taps outside for the garden hoses. It is mind boggling to think of the difference between that and what the families of Babati are living with.

So, water is critical for the people of Babati who live in villages, as well as for the people who depend upon the tourists who come to the game preserves. Water means livelihood for the cattle herder as well as for the safari guide. It is a common thread running through the traditional societies and the first world visitors who flock to see the elephants of Tarangire in their khaki vests and hiking boots. Water is definitely on my mind.