Cutting Down on Water

Sitting in Buigi on Tuesday, I realized I was starting to cut down on my water consumption. I made a journal entry at 6:00 p.m. and the temperature was still 98 degrees F. I was terribly thirsty. But I also was overwhelmed by the fact that the people of Lui live with this kind of thirst all the time. They don’t have a choice. But I do. I had started intentionally reducing my water intake by that time – because (a) it seemed somehow wrong to drink our bottled water when so many of them are dying of thirst and (b) the less we drink, the less often we need to find the latrine facilities. I realized that day that I was trying, consciously, to maintain a minimal level of dehydration.