Women carrying water in rural Ethiopia
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WaterAid: Providing Safe Water and Sanitation in Ethiopia

Water is essential to life. Without water, humans and our world would not survive. Yet, 11% of the world’s population –  783 million people –  do not have access to safe water. Although many people living in the western world including myself often take water, sanitation and hygiene (collectively known as “WASH”) for granted, there are millions of people around the world who do not.

In fact, the figures are shocking:

  • 2.5 billion people – almost 35% of the world’s population – do not have access to adequate sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF)
  • More than 500,000 children die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation – that’s almost 1,400 children a day. (WaterAid 2012/WHO 2008/The Lancet 2012*)
  • The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 40 pounds, the same as an airport luggage allowance.
  • Providing water, sanitation and hygiene together reduces the number of deaths caused by waterborne diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)

When I was in Ethiopia this past June, I witnessed firsthand the drastic unavailability of water and sanitation services. It could be seen every time I left the nation’s capital, Addis Ababa, and headed out along the roads leading to the rural population which make up 90% of Ethiopia’s 90 million people. Woman walking for hours with yellow jerricans on their backs. Mule carts loaded with empty and full jerricans. Even children carrying jerricans and walking miles in search of safe water.

Africa Ethiopia Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL TRAVEL BY REGION
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The Power of Purple during Semana Santa

For centuries, the color purple has played a significant role in the Christian religion during Holy Week surrounding Easter. The color purple along with red, black, white and gold, has an important symbolic meaning as the color of royalty and suffering. It’s significance is not a coincidence given the expense and difficulty in creating the color purple in early times. Furthermore, the color has often symbolized the suffering of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion.

I had the pleasure of witnessing the power of purple during a recent visit to Guatemala a week before Semana Santa (“Holy Week”).

Guatemala TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges
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The Arts and Carts of DC

I recently spent five days in our nation’s capital, Washington DC for a conference, and had the interesting experience of staying in nearby Crystal City an “urban village” as it is called on Wikipedia that is located south of Washington DC in Arlington, Virginia.

I had spent some time there at a week-long conference years ago and that trip did not leave me with good impressions of the urban-suburban-feeling place. In fact, I hated it. Fast-forward ten years and I could not believe how much it has changed.

TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY United States Washington DC
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Spanish crash course 101 (Part 2): Learning like the Guatemalans at Casa Xelaju

Her name was Lili de Leon.  Lili was one of the most experienced Spanish teachers at Casa Xelaju, having taught there since its opening over twenty five years ago.  She was assigned to be my individual teacher for my entire week at Casa Xelaju, all for the meager cost of $190 (which also included room and board at my home stay).

When I first met her, I was a little taken aback.  She did not at all look like what I had envisioned her in my head the night before.  Instead of dark, thick black hair Lili’s hair was almost as blond as mine which was a rarity in Guatemala.  Her shoulder-length hair was neatly combed back in complete perfection despite the windy conditions, and her wonderfully tailored coat and slacks made me feel like a total slob in my $5 Target t-shirt, washed out jeans and sneakers.  She greeted me with a warm, enthusiastic smile and I instantly knew that I’d like her.  Usually I have a good intuition on people and normally I am proved right.

We headed up to the third floor of Casa Xelaju, a beautiful, spacious building that not only hosts several individual teaching rooms but also offers fully furnished, clean apartments for rent at insanely cheap deals (a fully furnished, two bedroom apartment with kitchen and bathroom ran about $150 for two weeks).  It was a quite week at the school as there were only about four students at the moment.  At the height of high season, they can have dozens or more.

We entered Lili’s classroom on the third floor and I was very pleased to see it was beautifully decorated, full of lively colors and pictures, and best of all, had an enormous window looking out over the next door neighbor’s chicken coop one direction and a fantastic view of the city in the other direction.  It was facing east which meant the morning sun would rise and light up the room with brilliant sunshine each day.  I knew it would be the perfect place for me to crack open the books and start learning Spanish.

Photo above of Lili’s classroom which screamed happiness.

View outside the window overlooking the neighbors backyard and chickens. I could hear them cock-a-doo-dle-doo all day long!

Guatemala TRAVEL BY REGION