Pecious Water in the Slum--February 2012
John’s article is very good.
There are also gang members who sit around the pipes and charge extra money for the water and its has become too expensive for many local people who don’t have any money to buy water.
We have spoken with many of the women and girls who have learned to have sex with the water gangs so they can have fresh water for their family.
When we first created the We Advance health clinics in Wharf Jeremy, Cite Soleil we had no fence around our clinics and people were stealing water out of our tank daily. We let it happen because if things were so rough in here that they had to steal water to survive then let it be so. Now we have a fence and we order a water truck once a week (which usually costs around 35$ to 40$) but in scarce petrol times it surges to sometimes 68$ a week.
The truck fills up our tank for our clinics and as our tanks are small there is usually water in the truck left over so we have bath day for all the children and then share the rest with our community who, when they hear there is free water come running for it like a Black Friday Thanksgiving sale at Macys.
One day the water truck driver was so impatient for the people to fill up their buckets that he just dumped our left over water on the muddy ground and people were on their hands and knees trying to collect the now muddy water. Children sat with their faces on the ground sucking and licking at the precious commodity.Watching the water truck dump the water was one of the most cruelest things I have seen.
The only real thing children beg us for is water and they suck it back like it is precious chocolate. Clean water and education are the most important issues in Cite Soleil.
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Wharf Jeremy–Photo by John Carroll, February 28, 2012
This was an anonymous comment to my post about Cite Soleil, its water problems, and cholera.
Wharf Jeremy is part of Cite Soleil and is absolutely inhumane.
Please read this:
There are also gang members who sit around the pipes and charge extra money for the water and its has become too expensive for many local people who don't have any money to buy water.
We have spoken with many of the women and girls who have learned to have sex with the water gangs so they can have fresh water for their family.
When we first created the We Advance health clinics in Wharf Jeremy, Cite Soleil we had no fence around our clinics and people were stealing water out of our tank daily. We let it happen because if things were so rough in here that they had to steal water to survive then let it be so. Now we have a fence and we order a water truck once a week (which usually costs around 35$ to 40$) but in scarce petrol times it surges to sometimes 68$ a week.
The truck fills up our tank for our clinics and as our tanks are small there is usually water in the truck left over so we have bath day for all the children and then share the rest with our community who, when they hear there is free water come running for it like a Black Friday Thanksgiving sale at Macys.
One day the water truck driver was so impatient for the people to fill up their buckets that he just dumped our left over water on the muddy ground and people were on their hands and knees trying to collect the now muddy water. Children sat with their faces on the ground sucking and licking at the precious commodity.Watching the water truck dump the water was one of the most cruelest things I have seen.
The only real thing children beg us for is water and they suck it back like it is precious chocolate. Clean water and education are the most important issues in Cite Soleil.
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