Analysis of articles - fresh water by barbara kingsolver and the burden of thirst by tina rosenberg

The burden of thirst’ by Tina Rosenberg highlights the importance of water. Water is indispensable part of human. In Konso district of Ethiopia, women spend around eight hours every day in fetching water from Toiro River, which is at the top of a steep mountain. The people of Konso and most of Ethiopia live in rampant poverty and have to make do with dirty and contaminated water. Consequently, most of the population is infected with diseases like diarrhea and other water borne diseases besides HIV/AIDS. Maintaining hygiene is difficult because of the scarcity of water. In the developing world, scarcity of water is yet another way that depicts gender inequality. Women have to haul water from long arduous distances while menfolk drink and chat under shades. Moreover, most of their hard-earned money is spent on clinic visit to treat their boys who suffer from water borne diseases.
Bringing clean water is important for transforming their lives as it would motivate them to focus on more productive work. Besides providing women with more time on income producing activities, it would also help girls to go to schools and have wider options for better life. Water problem is common to poor, including urban poor across the world. WaterAid, a UK based NGO has successfully transformed lives of the people in Konso. It has involved the villagers across Konso district in the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) project. They help install pumps and dig trenches etc. to lay pipeline and bring water from the river to the villages as well as harvest rain. Most importantly, villagers are trained in maintenance so that the project may continue when the NGO leaves the place after it has achieved its target of bringing clean water to the people.
“ Fresh water’ by Barbara Kingsolver reveals how the inhabitants of the same earth display starkly different lifestyle. While water is taken for granted in developed nations and wasted without concern for the future, for people sub-Saharan states, it is an unending search for clean water to survive. Water is life which is corroborated by human physiology which is made up of two-third water. Lack of awareness regarding conservation of environment, especially water has resulted in dramatic climate change. The changing pattern of rain has emerged as major concern: while some parts of the world are witnessing extreme drought situations, other regions experience flood, hurricane, rising sea levels, bursting levees. Water inequity has not only caused disparity across human population but its inequitable distribution has also resulted in major climate change.
The author says that the nameless creek that flows down her farmland in Appalachia, is a constant source of pleasure. So she was very distressed to see that Bajo Piura Valley was not only a wide stretch of desert but it was also the driest place in Peru. The place has come into limelight for its innovative reforestation project which Peruvian conservationists had partnered with Heifer International. The project helped guide the population into herding goats which eat protein rich pods of Mesquito and disperse its seeds over the desert. But women still had to walk long distances for water while curdling goat milk into cheese. The menfolk kept digging deep into sand for water. Five years later they were still digging for water. Water like other natural resource is finite and needs to be conserved for future generation. Thus, it should be treated as valuable resource to be used judiciously and with care.
Reference
Kingsolver, Barbara. Fresh Water. National Geographic Magazine, April 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .
Rosenberg , Tina. The Burden of Thirst. National Geographic Magazine, April 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .