This is a picture I took in Loko, Nord Ubangi, DRC of a young village girl on her way to the local water source. In this region a water source is usually a stream at the bottom of a hill. Seeing these young girls carrying jerry cans back and forth all day really puts things into perspective for me. I know, I say that all the time. But I grew up in a place where water just runs, free and clear, from the tap. I don’t ever have to think twice about it. It’s something that has always been there and will always be there. At least that was always my mentality. Now, I am not so sure. I think water is a dangerous thing to take for granted. In some parts of the world people go to war over it. I think it’s possible that someday our taps could run dry too. And then it will be the thing we miss most about the way things used to be.

I imagine telling my grandkids “when I was your age water that you could DRINK ran from taps in half the rooms in our house. And you could even make it hot and take a soothing shower and just let it run over your body for as long as you wanted.”

And then they will say “What happened?”

And I will sadly say, “We took it for granted. We wasted it. And now, I will fetch the water.”

Magic 120/365, Fetch the Water, Loko, Nord Ubangi, DRC, 2015