No water in South Africa

by Carole Burne
(NC USA)

My husband was a game ranger in South Africa when we were young and at one stage in our lives there was a drought which meant no running water at all, so consequently no bath or toilet.

We were semi isolated, with one neighbor and very little else and lived in a thatch roofed house, surrounded by bush. We also had a coal stove and a generator for lights.

To solve the toilet problem my husband dug a hole in the bush with a piece of wood over it as a seat, and a garden spade next to it. Whenever we used it we used the spade to shovel sand into the hole to "flush" the toilet.

We also had an old rain water tank with some rain water in it which we used sparingly for drinking and cooking.

Luckily our neighbor had built a very small pool in his garden, which he let us use to rinse off every evening, which substituted for a bath.

This drought lasted a couple of months, not too long thank goodness, as I was 5 months pregnant at the time :)