Water, a human right?

I remember a story our guide, Jackson, told us last year about one of his clients, an Italian woman, who went home and raised enough money to bring water to his mother's village. (See my early post, "Jackson's story") For $5000, they brought water to the village and it changed everything.  The biggest impact was on the school children because it meant that 700 children could have their morning meal there -- often their only meal of the day.  That was a teachable moment for me --- look at the value and impact money can have for Africans when it is thoughtfully and lovingly directed.

I was looking at the receipts I received for the construction of the foundation and it struck me that water was close to 10% of the cost.  Do we even consider that as an expense when we are building something here?  Don't we just turn on the tap and use as much as we want?  We recently did a renovation and I don't remember ever paying for water!

Searching for, waiting for, and hauling water is an activity that takes up much of a Maasai woman's day.  When we were in Tanzania last year, we witnessed women standing in long lines waiting for water from a single well and then hauling it on their heads for long distances to marginally meet the needs of their families.