Water!

Look at this photograph; what do you see?

It is a photograph of Pauline, a lady I met on the outskirts of Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar. She was washing her clothes in the river, something she had done every week for as long as she can remember. And she is not alone; riverbanks lined with people washing their clothes before drying them on the rocks and bushes nearby can be witnessed daily in Madagascar. It is such a common sight that most people simply pass on by, oblivious to the story being told right before their eyes.

But what exactly is the story that is being told in this photograph?

On the surface, it is a story of everyday poverty in the 21st century. Those who never knew life before washing machines might be forgiven for making assumptions about how this is the story of how difficult life must be without the conveniences of the modern household appliances, as if washing clothes by hand is the extent of the challenges faced by Pauline. But I have learned from exploring the uncomfortable space between perception and reality all over the world that there is always more to every story if we are prepared to look deeper into the narrative. To do that, we have to peel back the layers one by one.

So let us peel the layers of this story.

Ask yourself this: why would anyone carry their washing all the way to the river if they had running water at home? Apart from its inconvenience, there is also the matter of privacy. Would anyone really chose to wash and dry their family's underwear on the banks of the public river if they could do so in the privacy of their own home? The reason people wash and dry their family's underwear on the banks of the public river is precisely because they do not have running water at home. When you realise this, you realise there is more to this story. And so, let us peel back the next layer.

No running water means no bathrooms. No bathrooms mean no toilets. No toilets mean nowhere for people to answer the call of nature, apart from the fields surrounding these communities. Every day, millions of people venture into the fields because they do not have a toilet at home. And no running water also means nowhere to wash their hands after visiting the fields; the same hands used to prepare food. And so, another layer of the story is exposed.

The ability to turn on a tap to wash our hands after using the bathroom, or fill a glass with clean water to drink, is so taken for granted that much of the world has simply forgotten what a serious risk to health a lack of clean water presents. A recent report published by UNICEF found that 80% of the population of Madagascar drinks water contaminated with E. Coli. And only 11% of people in rural areas have access to basic sanitation, which can cause all manner of health concerns. Heartbreakingly, 20% of children under the age of five will die directly from diarrhoeal diseases. And Madagascar is not alone. Every day, millions of people in counties all over the world face serious health issues due to the lack of clean water. Those people also wash their clothes in the river, just as Pauline is in this photograph.

But then, this has never been a story about washing clothes in the river, has it? There is always more to the story.

So I ask again, what do you see when you look at this photograph?