The Splish-Splashin Honey Bucket Rides

Hmm...I think I'll haul the uncovered fresh water tank right next to the full honey buckets that I need to empty, so I can save a trip.  On the way to the community fresh water hose that's dangling down & that everyone touches, I can empty those honey buckets at the collection site that I lean up against to dump my buckets in.  When I get home, I'll haul my ready to use honey buckets inside & put them in the corner where they belong.  Next, I'll wrestle the fresh water tank inside.  Finally, I'll start cooking some dinner.  I don't want to wash up, cause it'll waste water.

You see, I've never been to a village that doesn't have running water.  I've only seen them in my favorite paper, the Anchorage Daily News.  Every now & then, it seems- there's something about villages in the news that don't have running water.  I've seen pictures of honey bucket collection sites.  I've seen pictures where you drive your four wheeler or snowmachine with your bucket strapped on back and a hose is dangling down for your ease of use.

I don't have any plans to visit any of these villages any time soon, but I have some questions that would probably require me to see first hand how things are done.  Some things I'm curious about:

• Since there's no running water, does a honey bucket ever get washed?
• Does a honey-bucket house smell really bad?
• How many people touch these community fresh water hoses with their bare hands every day?

To be honest, these are questions that I don't think I ever want the answers to.  Maybe I'm squirmish, but just the thought of touching a honey bucket makes me feel dirty.  I really enjoy flushing a toilet and using the sink with running water that's two feet away from it.  Can't forget to mention the shower that I love to use everyday.

Click here to see an article showing how living in these places is hazardous to your health.  How do you go about living in these places?  My list of guesses below are the reasons I think people continue to live in such conditions:

1. They've only lived without running water, so they don't know the benefits of living with running water.
2. Can't afford to move to a place that has running water.
3. Don't want to move to a place that has running water for other reasons.

Something for you to try to give yourself an idea of how these people live:

• Get a five gallon bucket and bring it in to your bathroom.  Don't use your toilet, just use the bucket until it's full.  You may dump it into your toilet when it's full.
• Get a five gallon bucket and fill it with water.  Only use water from this bucket to do your daily water using chores.  You may fill it up in your home when it's empty, but keep note of how fast this bucket gets used up.

Do these two things until you can't stand it anymore.  Come back to let me know how long you lasted.