A Cart Load Of Caring

How OMC WaterCarts Are Improving Life In Uganda

This past June I was fortunate enough to spend three great weeks in Africa. We spent the first 10 days seeing amazing animals in the wild: giraffe, elephants, lions, water buffalo, wart hogs, more stunningly beautiful birds than you can imagine, and so many other gorgeous creatures. The height of the trip was trekking one day for golden monkeys and, then the true reason we were there, sitting with a Gorilla family. 

In our second week, I was able to see the reality of Africa and the hardships of life there. Ten years ago, our dear friends lost their son at the young age of 18 and felt called the following year to go to Africa to do something bigger than themselves. That turned out to be the first Light Village. Built on 23 acres of land, their philosophy for ministry and life is holistic; the much quoted, “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for the rest of his life,” is how they make a difference in Uganda. They don’t do handouts; they do handups! They do this through trainings and live demonstrations in the areas of agriculture, livestock, health and hygiene, economic development, spiritual and leadership, vocational training, and so much more.

I have been part of One City as their treasurer since it’s in conception in 2008 and have watched from 9,000 miles away the amazing things that were happening on the ground. But now, I was feet on the ground in the midst of it all and seeing for myself up close and personal. Life and its hardships, especially for the women and children, unhinged me.

For my next 10 days, I helped with a medical clinic outreach where hundreds came to be seen and treated by the doctor, receiving lab work and medication if needed. Did I mention that there is one doctor for every 160,000 people in the bush? People began lining up at 4:30 a.m. as they knew we could only see the first 250. All the numbers were taken by 7 a.m., and hundreds more waited the entire day to see if they would be able to be treated. All in all, we were amazed that the staff of one doctor, two medical officers, two lab technicians, two midwives, and two nurses were able to treat 327 very ill patients. It was with a heavy heart that we had to turn away some 300 people.

The cost for treatment was 2,000 shillings, or 60 cents, and for most that was all the money they could scrape together. That money helped offset the cost of the medications, though certainly didn’t cover them. The biggest surprise to us was that 90 percent of people suffer from typhoid, which is a preventable disease. The children were so sick; knowing that safe water and vaccinations could have prevented this simply broke my heart. One City had already begun a project to help this, but seeing that 90 percent statistic confirmed that we were on the right track with our new project: the OCM WaterCart.

At the Farmers Productivity Workshop taught by OCM’S agriculturalist and Veterinarian to help the local farmers learn how to be more productive in their farming, I met mama Justine. Until two months ago, Justine and one of her seven children would wake early and make their first trip of the day to the water hole. The trip would take 40 minutes there, 15 minutes to fill their jerry cans, and more than 40 minutes to carry the heavy cans—weighing 46 pounds each—back home. Her small daughter can only manage one can, so this is a trip Justine will make on her own, with the smallest of the children on her back, three more times during the day while the others are in school. She spends nearly seven hours of each and every day collecting water. You bet water is not wasted in her family. It is used for bathing, cooking, cleaning dishes, drinking, washing clothes, and watering the livestock and vegetables—if any is left.

Justine was so surprised at how much time she spent collecting water. She had never figured it out; it is just one of the many chores that must be done for survival in the village. When I asked her what she might do with an extra 11 hours per week, her face lit up. Her reply: “I could be working in my garden more. I could be reading to my children. I could help at my church more.”

After two months with the WaterCart, Justine says, “My life has improved. I no longer have back and shoulder pains; I get all my household chores done and still have time to do other productive work to help feed my family.”

Not everyone has to travel as far and as often as Justine, but some travel further. Some people who just don’t have enough time, or can’t manage the long walk carrying heavy cans, confess they go to nearby waterholes, usually polluted streams, and many in their family suffer from diarrheal diseases including typhoid.

Moreover, 85 percent of the country doesn’t have electricity. Even boiling the water is a chore as you must forage for nearly non-existent fire wood.

I saw and heard firsthand how the WaterCart is changing the way people are collecting water and spending their days. The WaterCart has cut in half (at least) the amount of time it takes to obtain water, leaving more time for productive activities such as school, farming in their gardens, and starting small businesses to help support their families. People are easily transporting two jerry cans over the rough terrain of the village roads and saving wear and tear on their backs, shoulders, and heads.

The one thing many of the women didn’t want to share with us, but it is so prevalent there, are the attacks they face while walking to fetch water. Spending hours walking with both hands holding 46 pounds of water leaves you vulnerable, especially since many must walk in the wee hours of the morning or early evening when it is already dark.

I was ecstatic to personally buy and gift a WaterCart to the family of Harriet. She is a single mom of seven, with two grandchildren and one on the way. She lives literally in the middle of nowhere and travels far to a polluted waterhole that cows and pigs use as a bathroom. With her new WaterCart and jerry cans she is now able to safely travel to collect good water for her and her family. Seeing the gorillas made me pretty happy, but nothing like the smile on Harriet’s face.

The amazing smiles of the children who are so grateful to get just a glass of water, don’t realize the difference between clean and typhoid filled, but these WaterCarts can and do make that difference. This smiling young man reminds me of the wonderful story of the little boy throwing the starfish back in the ocean and someone telling him he couldn’t save them all and his response was “but I can save this one”.

There are thousands of women who need these WaterCarts. Our goal is to make and deliver 1,000 of these carts by the end of the year. What a huge difference this will make in the landscape of Uganda.

I’d like to invite you to hear from 2 of the women I personally recorded as they shared with me the changes in their lives since being given an OCM WaterCart (www. WaterCarts.org ). We have the power to do something so simple that will literally change and save lives of people we may never, ever know. That gives me goosebumps!

Brenda Scarborough is on the Business Development team for the southeast regional office of the Santa Monica- based, William Warren Group, Inc., specializing in self storage acquisition, development, and management. Prior to joining the William Warren Group, Brenda Scarborough served as the President and founder of Accountable Management & Realty, Inc.: a Florida based firm specializing in third party management.  Scarborough has over 31 years of experience in the self storage industry and has been a longstanding member of both the National Self Storage Association and Florida Self Storage Association. She has served on several SSA committees, and served 6 years on the SSA Board and is currently on the Florida Self Storage Association board.