The Burden of Thirst

The Blood:Water supported communities of Marsabit, Kenya and Konso, Ethiopia are the feature of the following article, "The Burden of Thirst", in this month's National Geographic, which is entirely focused on the issue of water. We highly encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself. Find out more about our work in these communities at our Projects Page.


"If the millions of women who haul water long distances had a faucet by their door, whole societies could be transformed."

By Tina Rosenberg from the April 2010 Issue of National Geographic

"Aylito Binayo's feet know the mountain. Even at four in the morning she can run down the rocks to the river by starlight alone and climb the steep mountain back up to her village with 50 pounds of water on her back. She has made this journey three times a day for nearly all her 25 years. So has every other woman in her village of Foro, in the Konso district of southwestern Ethiopia. Binayo dropped out of school when she was eight years old, in part because she had to help her mother fetch water from the Toiro River. The water is dirty and unsafe to drink; every year that the ongoing drought continues, the once mighty river grows more exhausted. But it is the only water Foro has ever had.

The task of fetching water defines life for Binayo. She must also help her husband grow cassava and beans in their fields, gather grass for their goats, dry grain and take it to the mill for grinding into flour, cook meals, keep the family compound clean, and take care of her three small sons. None of these jobs is as important or as consuming as the eight hours or so she spends each day fetching water..."

Story Continued at nationalgeographic.com