Fetching water

Our cistern is empty. The dry season has been in session for almost two months. Up till now we have been making it by with the water that collected on our roof, but now even that has gone dry. My worst nightmare has become a reality. Some things have gotta change. Devin and I talked about it a little bit before how we are going to have to only have Anualnita – our maid wash our clothes once a week and also find someone fetch us water from the spring every day.

Finally this morning I was let in on why my clothes that I put out to be washed on Monday were not. Anualnita decided that she wants to wash our clothes all day on Fridays at the spring. I don’t have any problem with this except that its already been over a week since my clothes were washed and since getting here I have lost a bit of weight and I don’t have much that fits me anymore.

Today is my day off so I stayed home from work while Irene and Devin both went to work. After they left I decided that I wanted to see where this mystical water is. I asked Devin earlier in the morning and she told me about two that I would have walked past a hundred times, but never noticed, neither sounded too far away so I wanted to go get it. After I finished washing my underwear I told Anualnita that I wanted to fetch water. She didn’t want to do that though.

In Kinyaranda –

me – “Let’s go fetch water.”

Anualnita – “It’s very far.”

me – “I want to see where it is.”

Anualnita – “Down there.”

me – “I need you to show me.”

Anualnita – “Okay, I’m coming.”

I then went into my room and changed my clothes to get ready to fetch water, but when I was doing this I noticed that the clothes that I was putting on were really dirty. So I changed it up and decided that we would do laundry down there.

me – “We must do laundry there.”

Anualnita – “No, I will do it here.”

me – “No we can do it there.”

Anualnita – “It’s far.”

me – “I understand.”

Anualnita – “I need to cook and Irene said to _______.” I’m not sure what she said here.

me – “Let’s go.”

Anualnita – “I’m coming.”

So I changed clothes again and we left for the spring. The spring was a fifteen minute walk downhill away from my house. Anualnita carried my clothes and I carried an empty jug. Everyone on the way there thought it was hilarious that I was going to fetch water. White people don’t do that, another chance to disprove a stereotype and feel guilty for being white. The worst was a guy who told me that I should carry the water in my car and Anualnita agreed with him. I don’t know why people assume that I have a car. I have never given any indication that I own a car. It would be pretty hard to hide if I did have one. Even though I don’t want people to think that I have a car. I would love to have a car and I would put my and everyone else’s water in it.

We arrived at the spring and did my laundry. Anualnita laughed when I started helping wash my clothes as well as everyone who came by. It didn’t really matter though because everything that I washed she washed a second time. When she was rewashing my clothes I started talking to a guy who was filling up his jugs. His name was Kenety. Kenety fetches water for people for 150 franks a jug (a quarter). I then hired him to bring us two jugs of water every day starting tomorrow.

Once we finished the laundry Anualnita packed it up and I grabbed the full jug of water. This jug of water I think is twenty liters and weighs fifty pounds when it is full. At first I tried carrying it on my head like I see everyone do and I went about a hundred steps and couldn’t go any further. Remember that I said that I said that the path to the spring was all downhill therefore the way back is all up. I have gotten used to climbing up this mountain because I do it every day on my home from school, but I don’t do it with a fifty pound jug of water on my head. I could barely walk with this weight on my head sloshing around. I moved it to my shoulder, then to my hand, then to my other hand, then to my other shoulder. This continued the entire way home switching about thirty times. The fifteen minute walk to the spring took about forty coming back.

I was exhausted when I made it back. Anualnita who carried my wet clothes on her head went right back to work cooking and whatever Irene had told her to do. My back hurts now.

I like finding out more about people’s lives here. Most people don’t have someone to fetch their water or have a cistern to hold it so they have to do it themselves. I couldn’t do that every day, but no one can. I’m sure that I would get really good at it though if I did. I’m happy I went and did that though because now I know what I’m paying for and it is really worth it, both Kenety and Anualnita.

Koboyi watching me walk away with a water jug.

“You’re fetching water? Use your car white man.” If only I had one.

I think I lost more water than what I carried up.

Kenety making his living.

Anualnita making hers.