Beauty in the bucket

Before I left Canada, I made repeated reference to the paradox that my house in Sierra Leone would have Internet but no running water, joking that Internet was the greater necessity anyway. Turns out I was right; running water is actually pretty overrated.

I should preface these remarks by saying that our landlady attempted to bring water to the house, upping the rent to $450 (my share being $200 and hopefully dropping to $140 if we fill our empty room) as a result. For all intents and purposes, it didn’t exactly work.

Still, we do get a trickle from some of our sinks, some of the time, which I will admit is convenient when it comes to washing one’s hands and the like.

But I’m quickly learning that running water is one luxury I don’t have much difficulty living without, and not having Internet was actually much more frustrating for me.

Of course, Internet is by no means a necessity. But I’m a social creature and not having contact with basically anyone I ever knew prior to two weeks ago was far more daunting than the prospect of bucket showers.

A bucket shower is pretty much precisely what you’re imagining. In the absence of running water, you fill a bucket, and pour the water over yourself using a smaller bucket, or perhaps a measuring cup. Simple enough, right?

And I’ve actually grown rather fond of them. Sure, the showers themselves are not as pleasant as back home. No matter how hot the climate, water that cold can be a shock to the senses at first, and you always have to be diligent to ensure none of the water gets into your mouth, as it’s certainly not fit for drinking.

There is, however, a strange beauty in the bucket shower; at the end of it, you do feel clean, with the added bonus of knowing you conserved a ton of water.

As one who was often chastised by my parents for my excessively long showers, my hope is that the positive feeling I’ve derived from stumbling across a less wasteful way to clean myself will instill a long-term respect for water sustainability that I’ll carry with me upon my return to my native land.

In the meantime, I’ll have to become well acquainted with the bucket, as the hot is bound to become even hotter as the dry season sets in.