the weight of wealth Water crises threaten both life and traditions in sub-Saharan Africa We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. — Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia
essay | canada council prix de rome 2005 by taymoore balbaa
traditional building wells
health culture children
1 Water is pulled up mainly by women and children. Niger 2 Tuareg boy at well 3 Camels refreshing, Niger. Livestock con- gregate at the wells, and wait their turns to drink.
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Water is life. Each drop gains new weight where it is in short supply, or when it must be drawn from a well 50 metres below a scorched surface. In the spring of 2006 I gained a much greater appreciation for it while traveling through Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco and Southern Spain. Lack of water affects all of these places to varying degrees but nowhere during this journey was it more pronounced than in Sub-Saharan communities in Mali and Niger.
We operate in a culture of abundance. Slowly we have comprehended the amounts of waste this has produced. Heeding the call of sustainability may begin to reverse the damage but as citizens of a land of plenty, we have clearly abstracted our dependence on the most basic elements. When considering the force of water, our education (as architects) has focused on Roman Baths to Fallingwaters but does not prepare us for a shortage of this resource.
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