One of the team members has dubbed me as “the water girl” as it seems that I am the one who frequently retrieves the water from the back porch to fill bathing buckets and the water filtration system for our drinking water.

Water is a precious commodity here in Liberia. While free, our driver and guest house helpers travel 20 minutes by car to fill our large jugs of water. These jugs are kept on the back porch of the guest house and we use them to fill buckets for bathing and drinking. I cannot even begin to imagine living here and walking and carrying these water jugs!

Our accommodations here at the guest house are considered “luxury” by Liberian standards. We have electricity most of the time and bathrooms with American fixtures. While we don’t have running water, we have a toilet we flush manually with buckets, and a sink and a tub in which we can put buckets of water to wash ourselves. Each time I carry a bucket of water from the porch and when I dump a bucket of water over my head to wash my hair, I am reminded of how much water we waste in the U.S. While I am longing for a “real” shower and will gratefully enjoy that luxury when I get home next Saturday night, I pray that I will never take this precious commodity for granted, and that each time I turn on the spigot in my home, I will pray for my friends in Liberia.

Until next time, peace …

The water buckets that travel 20 minutes by car to be filled

The women’s bathroom at the guesthouse

The Berkey water filtration system giving us safe drinking water