I recently returned from my first trip to Africa. The main reason for my trip was for water.

After two days of air travel and airports, between Edmonton to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, I took in unfamiliar sights and sounds as we drove through a maze of the traffic congestion, air pollution and potholes that filled this city of 3.5 million people.

My friend, Dr. Chris Opio, a Ugandan immigrant and professor at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George, BC, had been drilling for water in Northern Uganda as part of the Northern Uganda Development Foundation (NUDF). We were there to check on the wells. I had no idea what to expect. I will admit that I was quite fearful of getting malaria, and rightly so, since on day two of the trip a four-year-old Kampala child in the house where we were staying came down with this dreaded sickness.

Mosquito nets, long pants, socks and bug dope became a regular ritual. Thanks to the $5,000 worth of supplements that were donated by some Canadian natural health product suppliers, I was able to help the malaria-stricken child (echinacea perked her up within hours) and distribute supplements to many others throughout the trip.

After our stay in Kampala, we headed north to visit the villages that were recipients of the wells that NUDF had put in. The greetings we received upon arriving were amazing. The villagers were so grateful for the water source that we were treated as royalty. At each stop, hundreds of villagers came out dressed in their best clothes, singing, dancing and waving flowers and branches! I shook hundreds of appreciative hands.

The people I met had nothing other than their mud huts and the small parcels of land that had been passed on from previous generations, on which they harvested a simple diet. I learned that Uganda could be the breadbasket of Africa, with the potential of two or three crops of grain per season due to very rich soil. The missing ingredient was water.

After touring from village to village, it was clear that lack of water was a serious problem in all areas of life in these parts, which were devastated from years of civil war. I saw people drinking out of swamps, small ponds and open water sources that resulted in serious illness.

In the villages where wells had been installed, villagers reported a reduction of parasitic problems and all the debilitating symptoms that come with them. The people could work better, children felt well enough to go to school and the community was no longer plagued with stomach problems and diarrhea.

What amazed me was that each well, which cost $2,500, served communities of up to 2,800 people and made such a significant difference in their lives. Many had been walking for up to five kilometres for water and carrying jugs back the same distance on a daily basis.

Needless to say, after a couple weeks in Africa, I returned to Canada with a great appreciation for clean water. Until my trip, it was difficult to comprehend its need and value.

In Canada, this valuable resource not only flows freely from our taps, but also is available in our homes that have electricity, in our communities that have health stores full of natural
health supplements and all with roads that are relatively free of potholes.

Visit www.nudf.org for more information about the NUDF.

[Dave Fuller is a chartered herbalist and the managing partner of Ave Maria Health Food and Specialties and Mother Maria's Market, health food stores located in Prince George, BC. www.avemariahealth.com]

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