Water and Illiteracy

I am happy to report that work is beginning to pick up for me. My office has successfully solicited the help of several non-governmental organizations who are now supporting us in various capacities. It has been keeping me quite busy lately.

One of the coolest projects that we’ve been given will bring water collection systems to a community really far off the beaten path that does not have running water. The women have to walk down into a really steep valley several times a day to bring up semi-clean water which they use to wash, cook, and drink. The new project will provide these women with fresh spring water piped directly to their houses. Not only will this improve the health of the women and their families because their drinking water will be markedly better, it will also free up a lot of time usually used to carry water so hopefully their kids will be able to go to school and the women will be able to spend their time on other pursuits. Maybe some of them will even have time to open small businesses selling tortillas or eggs to further improve their quality of life. In addition, their crops will benefit and multiply from the easily accessible water to keep them nourished. It’s amazing what a small thing like fresh water can do to change a family and a community.

All that said, this post is less about the water project and more about my experience meeting the women who will be the beneficiaries of it. When we found out that the women had been approved for the project we asked them to make the 4 hour trip (about 2 hours of that by foot carrying small children on their backs) into the town center to fill out the necessary paperwork. They were waiting for us at 8 a.m. when we arrived last Friday. I was awed by their punctuality, as anyone who has spent any time in Latin American can probably appreciate.

There were 33 women who were selected to receive the water tanks (they are the ones who are a part of the town women’s group- I like to think of them as local advocacy emissaries who push the local and departmental governments to provide them with the services that they’ve been promised). Each woman had to fill out a long socio-economic survey detailing how many children were in the household, what income and expenses the household has, etc.

The whole process should have taken about an hour. However, the women are illiterate, meaning that my counterpart Maria and I had to fill out each form with the women individually, which took a total of 6 hours. I honestly really enjoyed the time spent with these women, getting glimpses into their lives and their families; I didn’t even notice the whole day pass as I filled out the forms.

When I moved to my town I knew I was coming to a place with over 50% illiteracy but the reality of that didn’t hit me until this day when I began thinking about going through life not being able to understand all of the squiggles surrounding me, and knowing that other people, mostly men, could. Later that evening, as I was going about my evening ritual, writing in my journal, reading a magazine, scribbling a few letters, reading the directions on a packet of tea sent by a friend, it really hit me, the reality of illiteracy. I feel so lucky to have grown up in a country and in a family where reading came naturally and early. I guess I’ve taken the ability to read for granted and this meeting was a good reminder that I should be thankful for it.

Side note: There is a pretty good governmental program here that is working with groups of illiterate people to help them gain basic reading and writing skills. In addition, education though still not obligatory, is much more widespread than it was even 10 years ago. Hopefully this means that the situation in my community and in this country is changing.