Most of us do not think about the availability of water; we simply use it daily for drinking, cooking, washing, watering our lawns and gardens, our flowers all with a twist of the tap.  We think nothing of taking another bath, a long, seemingly endless shower or watering our fertilized lawns to a verdant green that is the envy of neighbors.  Here and there we have water rationing but where I live in the Evergreen (rainy) Northwest of the USA, there is a seeming abundance of water.  Come to Africa, and drinking a glass of it is a privilege, taking a bath, washing clothes becomes a chore, hard work and in some cases long walks or long waits until the water truck comes around the bend of the dusty, red clay road.

Go back in time and look at some ancient pictures drawn by artists and you see the women of Africa carrying the precious commodity of water in clay or stone vessels for great distances.  In some cases the containers were gourds that held smaller amounts of the life giving substance.  Water; meant work, labor, and the means of bringing it from the source to the place of consumption meant women invested time and effort on a daily basis.  Men, in this society saw the gathering of water as a job for women beneath their hunter and cattle pastoralist mentality and so the women were the ones who daily walked to the well, the river, the pond, the place where water could be found.

Africa is changing when it comes to the way water is brought to the home, no, there has been no new water systems installed with lines that will go for miles bringing tap water to all.  There might be a new well here or there, but others have dried out.  The change I am speaking of is the coming of plastic to Africa.  Yes, plastic…walk by any home, hut, shelter, slum shanty and you will see plastic basins, plastic buckets, three to five gallon containers commonly referred to as jerricans.  No longer does one see women coming home from the well with stone or clay pots, lightweight plastic has arrived.

It used to be that they were the ones who went after the water carrying clay or stone vessels on their head that were heavy and they journey to the faucet, well, river was a wearying one, but now with the coming of plastic, a boy, a child could do the same job and free her.  It may not seem as big thing, but the invention of plastic brought new vessels, new containers, new basins and tubs to the population of Africa from the rural areas to the populated slums and cities like Nairobi and Kampala.  A simple thing like a plastic jug, the kind we use for a gas can was now used as a container for the precious liquid needed by a dry and arid Africa, freeing mothers to do other things.  To us in the West it may not seem as life changing, but ask any African woman and remind her how it used to be and she will smile and tell you, yes, things are getting better. 

Plastic freed the women of Africa, from a laborious task of fetching water. Now in the early mornings late evenings just before dusk you see children going to the watering spot, laughing, playful conversations, fetching the water for cooking, washing, bathing and in some cases for the watering of the gardens around the home, allowing the sweet potatoes, beans, cassava, maize to grow for a enriching harvest. 

 The next time you go to a Tupperware party, hopefully you will remember this story and see more than some plastic containers in which you can put leftovers, but see plastic that freed the women of Africa from the daily chore of carrying the heavy clay and stones jars to their homes.   Trivial, granted, but think of the small things that have added convenience or freedom in your life and the plastic container will gain in significance and status as symbol of women’s liberation.  Today there are moves afoot all over Africa that seeks to free the woman from a lot more than the duties of daily water gathering to one of empowerment and equality…and knowing African women…they are on their way…after all it is probably a woman who came up with the idea of forego the traditional way of carrying water in stone and clay pots and switching to plastic ones that their off-springs could carry…. yes, the amazing the plastic container…. a device of liberty…jon

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