[Mission Familia Feliz] When hope rains down

When you are thirsty, what do you do?

You open the fridge, unscrew the lid and fill up a glass. Right?

And what if you find dirt at the bottom of it?

Or what if you fill up our tub to bath and the water is dirty?

Here at Familia Feliz we even drink dirt.

It’s part of this tropical reality called Bolivia. There is no water pipes, water bottles cost more than a worker can effort and avoid drinking it’s impossible.

So we collect water from streams and we drink it. Some days, the water we serve into glasses it’s so dirty we can hardly see through it…

We shower with this water, we wash our clothes, we solve milk powder in it, we make te with it, or soup or fruit juice. We work metal with the water, or water the garden or cleaning the house and the truck we use to go to town with. We do pretty much anything vital with it.

So, better have the water this way than not having it at all. Right?

The worst case scenario is that from time to time, we volunteers or the kids get kidnwy pain or some virus from drinking it. What can we do after all. We are in Bolivia.

But what happen in summer time, when this tropical weather keeps getting warmer and warmer and the water supply jsut runs out?

Last summer, Familia Feliz has been without water for 3 months. The only way they could get some was from the nearist stream (more closer to a water dump, I’ve heard). In that case the water we used to shower and to clean clothes got mixed with mud and with the water we would collect to drink. And that’s how they got to survive for 90 days.

That very same dry summer seems to be ready to repeat itself.

I have been taken part in a expedition me and some of my english student did to the main stream we use for water. I wanted to understand the reality about it and realize what is to depend on natural resources all about.

The water tank is 4 hours away from the orphanage.

The dirt gets collected into the tank and keeps rising until the pipe hole that brings water to us. The water flow decrease its quantity and gets filled with dirt. And that’s how we drink something we shouldn’t be drinking.

To get to the stream and operate a mantainance job on the tank, in order to clean away the dirt, we need 4 men, tools, time and proper conditions. The track presents few creek crossings and it is not possible to reach it with a four wheels vehicle.

In this part of the jungle it’s also easy to encounter poisoness snakes, insects and wild animal. The risk factor is surely less important than the water supply.

I’d say this is not exactly what we do in our country, is it?

If we find dirt in a glass of water or in a tub, we probably wouldn’t have to cross the jungle for 2 hours looking for the stream to be clean.

Our wealth allow us to be able to afford a bottle of water and to send a complain to the water supply company. Or maybe we can call a plumber and ask him to fix something wrong in case of a water shortage of more than 2 hours.

But what if we had to wait 90 days before we could drink water again?

Timeframes in Bolivia are more compliated, due to the condition of many wild areas in the country side. And these conditions can get extreme during summer and cause drain such the one we are getting in now.

So I started asking myself I could I ever help Doru, one of the directors, to improve this or fix the problem to the source.

As you well know, sharing experience and advice is something we always do at no cost.

If you could please make the difference for these kids of Familia Feliz, please, please share this article with your contact or write me here as soon as possible.

Ma i tempi in Bolivia e le complicazioni di salute che ne derivano, possono causare mesi e mesi di siccità.

Così mi sono messo a tavolino con Doru, uno dei direttori ed ho pensato di proporre delle idee.

Come sapete l’esperienza e la condivisione di consigli e soluzioni non ha alcun costo.

Se potete fare la differenza per i bambini di Familia Feliz, prego fate un passaparola o contattatemi al più presto.

Un abbraccio.

Gionata Nencini
www.Partireper.it