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Water For Life
It is amazing, the thought of my mom raising six boys and two girls. When I contemplate such a feat of strength and resilience, I marvel at her ability to run a household. My mom is one of many St Lucian women who make daily survival, seem like everyday living. Most of us only realize in hindsight what it difficulties of raising children and running a household. When we grow up and have families of our own and we become fathers and mothers, we become quite enlightened however. Our women have shown an inspiring ability to overcome obstacles with grace. Just imagine having to run a household with so many children. Now for good measure throw in the occasional unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness, a school trip or a water shortage. Sometimes when there was a water shortage in my community moms planed a family trip to the river.
Whenever there was a water shortage, conservation measures were put into effect and the taps would be shut off intermittently. Until the reservoirs were replenished, we would have to find other ways of accommodating our water necessities which sometimes meant a trip to the river. That was usually the highlight of my weekend. Going to the river was the best fun a kid could have, and of course that meant a welcome respite from the heat, it is one childhood pastime that most kids growing up in rural St Lucia, have enjoyed at one time or another.
The present,” water woes”, though not a new occurrence, should remind us of the importance of water to our survival. Many of us are familiar with the statement “Water is Life”; I believe it was famously used in an advertisement for water conservation in St Lucia. It is catchy yet poignant. water is life it is essential to our survival,we take it for granted and may only realize it is a necessity, when it is to late.
The statement "Water is Life" aptly highlights the crux of the matter, the importance of water to our very existence. That very water which as kids seemed so abundant and plentiful is no longer. Although there have been times of droughts or even water shortages in time past,we must however acknowledge that, we are living unattainably. We have an unsustainable approach to our water management in St Lucia and it is reflective in the fact that Streams have begun to dry up and rivers have shrunk and now we are grappling with climate change. Soon we may not have those rivers to fall back on when the pipes run dry.
As a child we splashed and played in the rivers and streams in St Lucia. I remember we would make boats out of old coconut shell and watch them sail downstream. At rimes we would pretend to wage battles with sailing fleets of coconut shells and at times we just raced each other, running alongside the swift flowing streams following our boats. There was always more things do than there was time at the river.
The excitement of being outdoors and having fun had no bounds and it freed up our imaginations and sense of adventure. We would use the time to go hunting for crayfish. If you were brave and was willing to put your hand under a rock, after a few scrapes and cuts you might come out with a really nice, big fat crayfish. Sticking your hand under a rock, to catch a crayfish was not for the faint of heart and most people never tried it. A few of the older boys however sometimes, pulled out monsters from under the rocks, the size of a small lobster, mind you not without a fight.
There was one other way that the younger kids used and although you only caught smaller crayfish about the size of prawns it was fun too. You only needed to submerge a bucket into the water and using a piece of coconut flesh at the end of a stick, slowly coax the small crayfish into the bucket. When the crayfish was into the bucket you would simply, quickly lift the bucket out of the water. It may sound simple but it took some practice and crawfish are notoriously quick at darting backwards, getting out of your intended trap.
It is unfortunate however, because many of those tiny streams have dried up. Agriculture was a boon to St Lucia but it precipitated substantial deforestation, especially around rivers and streams. So in some way we a reaping the seeds we have sown. It is not however too late and we can start to redress the situation. A tree planting program is a compulsory measure, in order to line all streams and rivers with trees. But we require a fully comprehensive approach to Water sustainability in St Lucia.
We have gotten to this point over many years of callous mismanagement of our water resources. Having arrived at this juncture, we can approach the situation as if it were, the last trumpet heralding the call to arms. This is essentially our last opportunity to nurture, preserve and conserve our water resource, in order to secure, good clean water supplies for us all, in the near term and into the future.
Desalination plants, Artesian wells. Tree replanting programs, Mangrove rehabilitation projects, manufacturing regulations and a comprehensive water management strategy, a few ideas we could start with. But for sure we need workable solutions to a comprehensive problem. The good news is that we have an opportunity to make a green shift, a shift towards a more environmentally friendly future. The Copenhagen Hagen Conference, on Climate Change, even with no other concrete outcome should keep us focused on the dire consequences of environmental mismanagement; the drought only serves to further emphasize that fact.
Water conservation is one issue that conservationist have pointed to being, the most pertinent issue facing the survival of life on this planet. It is not unique to St Lucia, although at this present moment, we find ourselves facing a very difficult few months before the rains arrive. It is a well known fact that “Small Island States” are at the vanguard of the effects of climate change. We are experiencing that reality.
The time has arrived for us to leave a sustainably and consider our impact on the planet we live on. From that standpoint; we must take measures that will ensure our children enjoy the world as we have. Let us ensure that we conserve this precious resource “Water” which is so essential to life and in so doing let us focus on our ecological environment, “Mama Earth is hurting”. I would like my children to enjoy the heart warming feelings experienced, from a quaint trip to the river and I hope that it is enjoyed by many more generations to come. Each of us has an individual responsibility and must play our part to help the planet live.
Whenever there was a water shortage, conservation measures were put into effect and the taps would be shut off intermittently. Until the reservoirs were replenished, we would have to find other ways of accommodating our water necessities which sometimes meant a trip to the river. That was usually the highlight of my weekend. Going to the river was the best fun a kid could have, and of course that meant a welcome respite from the heat, it is one childhood pastime that most kids growing up in rural St Lucia, have enjoyed at one time or another.
The present,” water woes”, though not a new occurrence, should remind us of the importance of water to our survival. Many of us are familiar with the statement “Water is Life”; I believe it was famously used in an advertisement for water conservation in St Lucia. It is catchy yet poignant. water is life it is essential to our survival,we take it for granted and may only realize it is a necessity, when it is to late.
The statement "Water is Life" aptly highlights the crux of the matter, the importance of water to our very existence. That very water which as kids seemed so abundant and plentiful is no longer. Although there have been times of droughts or even water shortages in time past,we must however acknowledge that, we are living unattainably. We have an unsustainable approach to our water management in St Lucia and it is reflective in the fact that Streams have begun to dry up and rivers have shrunk and now we are grappling with climate change. Soon we may not have those rivers to fall back on when the pipes run dry.
As a child we splashed and played in the rivers and streams in St Lucia. I remember we would make boats out of old coconut shell and watch them sail downstream. At rimes we would pretend to wage battles with sailing fleets of coconut shells and at times we just raced each other, running alongside the swift flowing streams following our boats. There was always more things do than there was time at the river.
The excitement of being outdoors and having fun had no bounds and it freed up our imaginations and sense of adventure. We would use the time to go hunting for crayfish. If you were brave and was willing to put your hand under a rock, after a few scrapes and cuts you might come out with a really nice, big fat crayfish. Sticking your hand under a rock, to catch a crayfish was not for the faint of heart and most people never tried it. A few of the older boys however sometimes, pulled out monsters from under the rocks, the size of a small lobster, mind you not without a fight.
There was one other way that the younger kids used and although you only caught smaller crayfish about the size of prawns it was fun too. You only needed to submerge a bucket into the water and using a piece of coconut flesh at the end of a stick, slowly coax the small crayfish into the bucket. When the crayfish was into the bucket you would simply, quickly lift the bucket out of the water. It may sound simple but it took some practice and crawfish are notoriously quick at darting backwards, getting out of your intended trap.
It is unfortunate however, because many of those tiny streams have dried up. Agriculture was a boon to St Lucia but it precipitated substantial deforestation, especially around rivers and streams. So in some way we a reaping the seeds we have sown. It is not however too late and we can start to redress the situation. A tree planting program is a compulsory measure, in order to line all streams and rivers with trees. But we require a fully comprehensive approach to Water sustainability in St Lucia.
We have gotten to this point over many years of callous mismanagement of our water resources. Having arrived at this juncture, we can approach the situation as if it were, the last trumpet heralding the call to arms. This is essentially our last opportunity to nurture, preserve and conserve our water resource, in order to secure, good clean water supplies for us all, in the near term and into the future.
Desalination plants, Artesian wells. Tree replanting programs, Mangrove rehabilitation projects, manufacturing regulations and a comprehensive water management strategy, a few ideas we could start with. But for sure we need workable solutions to a comprehensive problem. The good news is that we have an opportunity to make a green shift, a shift towards a more environmentally friendly future. The Copenhagen Hagen Conference, on Climate Change, even with no other concrete outcome should keep us focused on the dire consequences of environmental mismanagement; the drought only serves to further emphasize that fact.
Water conservation is one issue that conservationist have pointed to being, the most pertinent issue facing the survival of life on this planet. It is not unique to St Lucia, although at this present moment, we find ourselves facing a very difficult few months before the rains arrive. It is a well known fact that “Small Island States” are at the vanguard of the effects of climate change. We are experiencing that reality.
The time has arrived for us to leave a sustainably and consider our impact on the planet we live on. From that standpoint; we must take measures that will ensure our children enjoy the world as we have. Let us ensure that we conserve this precious resource “Water” which is so essential to life and in so doing let us focus on our ecological environment, “Mama Earth is hurting”. I would like my children to enjoy the heart warming feelings experienced, from a quaint trip to the river and I hope that it is enjoyed by many more generations to come. Each of us has an individual responsibility and must play our part to help the planet live.
posted by Garry at
4:27 PM
2 Comments:
It's sad that some of us couldn't careless about the planet we live on. I remember those days Gary, but somehow every thing has changed now, we went to the rivers more often, we even had places for special families there, everyone would clean their own little place...stones for their children to sit on...make a place for the washing...clean a nice little hole for the children who couldn't swim..something that wasn't too deep, the snacks were dried coconuts,banana, pwa doo,mango,pomdeeliene,gwee gwee, and all of those fruits and seeds from the plants. Although the children from patience still have a thing for the river, called the river bash, they will never imagine how it was for us before, but the preserving of the planet has to be taught from the beginning of a childs life, people like us, who should know better are not paying attention, but I think if it is instilled in our future generation, they will grasp it at one point...there should be more interest shown in preserving the planet by us, those who are present now, so that the future generation can build on where we left off.
Having said that, I believe you forget that Nen had to raise more than just you guys, she had me as well, coming to spend weeks or weekends with Lucia, peeing on lucia's bed sometimes, wearing Linch's T shirts, and all that stuff. I remember a T Shirt of Linch's that I wore to go home with...it never came back to your house, on the front was a huge tire with the sign GOOD YEAR on it. The back was plain white. I loved it so I decided to keep it...and you can see how much I loved it now...because the memory of it is still with me, like it was just yesterday.
Anyways love your ideas, hope we can find solutions.
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