Many people's homes have been destroyed, mud brick and cement houses alike. Since it rains pretty continuously, people do not have time to patch up their homes before the next rains hit. The clay soil of the streets become gigantic mudpits. Skin problems, respiratory problems, and malnutrition is the worst I've seen during my time here. Good health and adequate housing should be a basic right that everyone has. I know that this is not true for much of the world, but it really makes you think: when the rains come, the electricity is cut, you can't leave the village and the roof starts to leak, which is annoying but then you realize your neighbor doesn't have a roof over their head anymore.
(In the left picture, the reason why you can see the house on the right so well, is because the house in front of it was completely destroyed. The picture on the right is a fallen and full douche.)
However, I'm worried about the status of the community over the upcoming months. As I've said before, Kassack Nord and the surrounding community is primarily a farming community--almost everyone relies on the rice harvests for their livelihood. With the rains, 1500 hectares of land owned by the people of the Waalo have been flooded. The following two articles (in French) outline what is happening in our communities. (Translated pages are at the end of this post).
It's hard to see these people work so hard, and then have so much taken away from them. Everything is much harder here. For instance, to get water, people go to a public robinet (spigot), fill up a large basin or small tank, and carry it to their homes. If you have the means, people have a private robinet in their compound. My community is lucky in that we have a water treatment center pumping out potable water. Most people go to the robinet for drinking or cooking water, and go to the river or canal for washing water (bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, etc). Why would they go to the river for these things? Because the water in the river is free. The water from the robinets cost about 20 cFa (4 or 5 cents) for a large basin or tank. Many households will need at least two or three tanks of water just for drinking/cooking. For many households, it is just too much of a cost to wash with treated water.
So what can we do to help these people? There is so much to do and I feel time just slipping away. The realization that I cannot fix everything is depressing but also more realistic. Yet, while I think of the potential for Senegal's future, the images of the people in Kassack, right now, working are constantly on my mind.
Sorry to hear about all of the damage the rains and flooding have caused this season! I hope they are able to rebuild soon.
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