Zulu 10 blog- Agua and Arenilla

As most of you sit reading this blog in the UK, most probably in the pouring rain it may be hard to imagine facing issues of water availability. However, as we have discovered during our first five days in Nicaragua these are problems constantly faced by the villagers of Arenilla. 

Despite facing a fairly substantial language barrier, we spoke to Danilo, the head of the village, about the impact water has on everyday life. One surprising fact we learnt was that even though the main income of nearly all the families in Arenilla is agriculture, the main priority when using water is drinking and cleaning themselves and their homes whilst farming remains firmly at the bottom of the pile. 

Whilst we are lucky enough to be living in houses with direct access t water, there are several households still with no running water. They make a long trek to the main village water source everyday, even though the water is not safe to drink. Luckily, Arenilla never faceses serious shortages of water even in the dry season due to its altitude of 1360mts but the villagers are still careful to conserve water as much as possible. For the 19 days that we are part of the community so will we.