Of Guns, Birds and Water

There are three things I see all over Kampala: men with guns, large birds circling in the sky and water, usually orange brown muck filling potholes that could fit anywhere between 1 and 120 soccer balls. And I usually stay clear of all three. The thing is only one of them is a persistent killer.

The ubiquitous gun is usually slung on the arm of a uniformed security man watching a gas station, store or parking lot. The gun is usually a small rifle tough some have clips. It is not menacing. It surely won’t hold down a fort, but it is enough to make a statement.

The birds, due to my lack of training all look like pterodactyls or vultures swirling menacingly above the city. Although they look like they could scoop up a small child, I have heard of no such stories.

Then there is water.

In a city that appears to have sufficient indoor plumbing from the foreign lifestyle I am leading, it does not. Approximately, 35% of the people in Kampala are without running water according to the UN. The lucky get potable water from springs like the one that feeds the water trap at the local golf course. A good bit of the rest don’t. Of the nearly 1.2 million people that live here, nearly 500,000 live in unplanned area or slums complicating the city’s efforts to provide access to potable water and sanitation. What’s worse, the city decided not to build infrastructure to these unplanned areas to encourage more planned development. People use plastic bags as toilets and numerous families often have to share pits that tend to overflow during strong rains. It’s unpleasant to think about, difficult to imagine. (my pictures coming soon this is from East Africa online) The situation leads to bouts of dysentery, diarrhea and far worse.

As disturbing as it sounds, ClearWater does no work in urban areas. We believe that we should target the rural poor who have been affected not only by a similar plight to the people in the city, but by violence that plagued the north for nearly 20 years. Although it has died down recently (more to come on this topic), the healing is a long process.

The truth is that for all the menacing things that surround me here in Kampala and will further afield, it’s the most innocuous – water -- that is by far the biggest threat.