Rodan Gatia fetches water in Kenya. A chlorine dispenser is behind her. NPR |
NPR’s Planet
Money recently published a story on the widespread issue of poor water
quality entitled, “A surprising barrier to clean water: human nature.” They
tell the story of how they thought that
clean water was an engineering problem. Give people wells, then it’s all good,
right? No, not quite. Water was getting contaminated somewhere in the house;
the containers were dirty, or water was contaminated during storage (ie, small
children playing). So, how about making chlorine tablets available? People
aren't buying them. What if we give them for free? In a dispensary right next
to the well. They’ll do it then, right?
Still no—still lots of
contamination. People didn't like the taste of the chlorine additives, or they
just don’t bother with it.
My favorite part of the
story is the following:
GREEN-LOWE (employee of CARE
implementing clean water in Kenya ):
I've had malaria five times now. I have a bed net hanging above my bed and I
don't use it.
REPORTER:
Why don't you do it?
GREEN-LOWE: It's 45 seconds. It's
a burden. I don't want to. I either don't think about it or feel stubborn.
The story closes out with the
following observation: “People everywhere - in
rural Kenya , in New York , wherever - we
just don't always do all the things we're supposed to do.”
So—sorry—
Why is that a surprise?
People don’t do what’s
good for them, even if it requires a relatively small amount of effort. While
we more readily acknowledge this problem in the US , in international work, people
seem continually surprised.
Unfortunately, it’s part
of the double standard that we so often attribute to people in other countries.
We think that their poverty and foreignness renders them more susceptible or
open to suggestions by outsiders.
While yes, the article is
on water, we can definitely see some of this double standard tendency with some
of the worst sanitation programs around. In the US , I've seen people go behind a
bush rather than use a latrine because it smelled bad. Maybe a person can spend
their scant income on a new toilet, but their daughter is getting married, and
a wedding is more important to them. People are pragmatic, and they have to
prioritize; this happens everywhere.
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