75 Miles from the Equator

Things get a little warm when you’re living 75 miles away from the Equator. Without running water and electricity being out 8 hours a day, the realities of the environment have hit home, literally. We are some of the lucky ones though. The school has been able to afford these huge rain collecting basins, which we draw a couple liters of water from every day. Folks not so fortunate have to go down to a watering hole everyday to collect a couple of gallons. This isn’t so bad until the dry season comes. That’s when things get really interesting. People have to travel further and further for water as it becomes more and more scarce and I will tell you what, water is heavy. We have been instructed to save at least 4 Jerry cans worth of water in preparation for the driest month, June.
I have always been an advocate for the environment, but to be honest, it’s not so much because I’m a huge fan. I mean I have always loved the environment and animals, but this has really put a human face on the environment and I really care about people. As the affects of climate change worsen, the seasons here in Nyagatare will become more sporadic and tougher to grow crops. I would guess 85% of Rwandans are farmers. Climate change will make the rainy season more violent and the drought months more intense. This will make the very thin safety net in which people lean on, even thinner and could cause many people to loss their livelihood and even their lives.