Wuha

Pronounced: woo-haw
Language: Amharic
Translation: Water
Defintion: a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid; a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H2O, freezing at  0°C and boiling at 100°C, that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.

I don't think I've ever thought more about water in my life than I did during those two weeks I spent in Ethiopia.
Clean water.
It seems like such a simple thing to us
One of those things that just comes along with life
Complementary clean water

I never even realized how much I loved water
Until I had to put forth effort to obtain it

I never realized how much water I use everyday
Or how quickly one can dehydrate
When water takes time, money, and effort
to become drinkable.

Rule #1 for missionaries in Africa:
Do not drink the water from the tap,
Either boil it for at least 15 minutes
or drink bottled water.

That means we have to check our water bottle supply everyday and make sure we're not running low. We have to make sure we don't empty the bottle if someone else in the house hasn't filled up their personal bottle yet. If we want oatmeal in the morning, we have to get up early and boil the water. If we want to cook pasta or rice at night (which is pretty much all we had to cook) we have to start dinner quite earlier than usual, to allow time to boil water. When we wash dishes after dinner, we have to boil more water so we aren't using bacteria-filled water to sanitize with. Don't accidentally use the faucet to brush your teeth; you could get very sick. Be sure to always keep bottled water stocked in the bathroom for that purpose. And try to stay on top of the disinfecting wipes/hand sanitizer supply if you actually want your hands to be clean after you wash them. Refill your water bottle (as long as there is enough water stocked in the house to do so) everyday before you leave the house, because there will be nowhere else to get drinkable water throughout the day. And after you shower, just put some deodorant on and let it be, because you may never quite be sure if you smell better or worse after a shower, due to the stench of the water.

And the crazy thing is, the Ethiopians feel more than blessed to have this water available to them. For there are places near them who do not have access to even that.