Bread and Rice: Drinking Water

There are times that I forget that the "Musoma-norm" isn't what the rest of the world would think is normal. And by saying that, I realize I'm referring to the Western world... and that the greater majority of the world would think my life here is pretty grand! After all, my story of getting water to drink begins with a faucet with running water inside my home, and not with a bucket carried overhead to and from Lake Victoria a ways away... and uses helpful devices that many people simply don't have access to!

After studying in Germany this summer, and finally getting over my fear of drinking water directly from the tap while there, I thought it'd be a good time to share a bit of my every-few-days "how to get clean, cold drinking water" routine with all of you! When your water could easily come out of the faucet looking a bit like this...

you think twice about drinking water straight from the tap anywhere!

Step 1: Get water. (As previously stated, this could be from a variety of sources, but since we have indoor plumbing, it looks a bit like this!)

Just don't fill it TOO full - you still have to lift it afterwards! And not break the not-so-sturdy sink...

Water-storage container on the right for when water is out serves double as a continuation of our dishes to-be-washed counter-space...

Step 2: Put said water into sand filter.

Yep, just dump it in. I love when things are simple, even if they are time consuming...

The sand filters out a lot of the big stuff - which we're more than ok with! Just be sure to use a different bucket for collection so as not to contaminate the freshly sand-filtered water...

Wait for water to go through the system and new bucket to fill up.

Step 3: Take bucket back indoors, and use a smaller container to scoop it into a Katadyn filter above your head.