I’m trapped in the cycle of water,

Sickness hits me like a wildfire, spreading far and wide

A sandbag holding back a tsunami,

I am a shadow of my full potential - all the thoughts of who or what I could have been -

dreaming of your cool, clean, love splashing back in my face.

My work is done.

I take a sip.

As the water touches my lip, 

I FEEL EQUIPPED.

Her name is Anya and she lives on a dirt path hardened by the many who walk it.

She is a female born into poverty who walks on a dirt road everyday for water, 

She loves art and wishes to draw, but she has no education and will never get one.

She has five brothers who need water and an education (and sisters who will never get one)

She lives in a place where females are walking buckets who bring water to men everyday.

Her name is Anya and she lives on a dirt path hardened by the many who walk it.

I call for attention, I need people to see me, I need people to know what I do,

No one looks.

As I get water, my mind starts wandering, heading into new places and ideas,

Why don’t I get the same chance, I need an education for my life to advance.
I am a bird, that cannot fly, I need someone else’s wings to push me into the sky.

Yet, no one looks.

To a woman, water is a breath 

Favoring a simple action not knowing it could be her last

As the body inhales agony, the body exhales hope 

Heart beating as money is deflating from the lungs into the air as an insignificant material

So high up that she flies away to grasp nothing

Hoping to find peace in a land of fair play

When will this feeling wash away?

Splash, splash, splash.

She sacrifices education to bring water to her nation,

The nonstop pounding on her head-

Will it end?

The water she worked for,

the water she walked for,

is the same water that took her

The water that took her from my mom

The water that took her from me

Water defines me and yet it confines me

And my necessity will be the death of me

Walking for hours gives me no power

Wishing for school, yearning to be learning

Wasting my life, just because I’m a wife

No light in sight.
Except for the scalding sun causing a drop of brackish water,
Ready to be gathered for walking.
As the sun strikes I don't see anything.
No education, no safety, no hope: just colorless hope.

Because I am a girl

I will not go to school because I must fetch water, the sea of desire

I will not get a job because I didn’t go to school

I will be a housewife taking care of my family every waking moment

Give me the crystal blue water and save me

 

In places where water is not easily-accessible, girls often go with their mothers to provide water for the family. Instead of going to school to get an education to try to stop this cycle of poverty, women often have to walk up to 6 hours a day to retrieve water. By reducing the distance between villages and water, girls are more likely to attend school and later on be able to produce water for their family without walking great distances.

There was a tear slowly sliding down her skinny face

The tear dropped down to the dehydrated, dusty ground and she fell with it 

Her curly cheerful hair lost it's bounce 

I knew she didn't have an education or running water

And yet I just stood there, watching it all  

Her wasted hours slipping through her fingers like sand in the wind, with it the possibility of getting a job

Sickness strikes because of dirty water, like a snake waiting till its prey is powerless against it, 

Dragging with it two more jobs and thousands of missed opportunities  

Under the cover of darkness she sneaks out, quiet as a mouse, looking for privacy due to the lack of toilet

But with the night sky comes another kind of darkness, the risk of being raped and abused 

Balancing pounds of wet death upon their heads,

Each bone shatters from the scream of fatigue. 

Women are rays, increasing the hope of others, while diminishing their own, 

Concealed behind men, who like clouds, hamper the rays from overlooking poverty.

Women are the umbrellas blocking the dirty reign of dehydration.

The weight was so burdensome, yet it raised her up immensely.  

           In both second and third world countries, females are involuntarily sent into harsh conditions where they spend about 6 hours and travel long distances gathering unsanitary water while males are at work and school. Women and girls a part of the 22% of the world without clean water, waste their time collecting contaminated water that kills 1,500 kids under the age of 5 everyday. Simillary, females a part of the 33% of the world with no toilets are inclined to use the bathroom until dark where they risk themselves being abused by others, rather than going in public during the day.

When the angel is present, it eats up poverty in villages like lions eating their prey after not eating for days, but when the devil is present, it eats up the people in the villages and leaves them to slowly decompose

When the angel is present, women and girls get educated, learn new things, become more knowledgeable, but when the devil is present, it scares women and girls’ knowledge away

When the angel is present, the world is full of life; greenery, animals, people, but if the devil took over, the world would be an empty, dry, vast land going on and on with miles and miles of nothing at all

When the angel is present, people are clean, shiny, fresh, but when the devil is present, people are dirty, dull, filthy

When the angel is present, spare time is taken for granted, but when the devil is present, spare time is a precious thing that many don’t have much of

People are made of angels, but if the devil were to take over, the angels might not be strong enough 

Women are not seen, but the water they carry is life.

Women’s heads are aching, but their minds grasp all the information.

Women’s backs are breaking, yet they are constantly recycled.

Women have very little power. Very, very little power.

Women are heard, but only through men.

She provides the story.

The pain of the enduring walk.

The sorrow of the shy resource.

The fear of using the restroom.

The emptiness of education

Twisted sharply, hard to reach, nestled deep in our roots, tucked between soft pebbles. 

She provides the water

traveling endlessly, the water crushing my head and my heart. 

I walked for water, unable to learn and now I cannot earn a living.

We walk for water, but we are still invisible.

I walk for my salvation, yet towards my end

There is no time to soak up the sun;

How shall I be bright?

The water is a trek away every day and night.

The buds all around me are growing into flowers, 

And why am I still walking, endlessly for hours?

She bears the weight on her shoulders, gradually wasting away. 

They listen for a deep, silver voice -

One of knowledge,

Not one of experience.

Endless days of water yearning. When can she go back to learning? 

Waiting in silence, a lamb to the slaughter, that’s who she is as an African Daughter.

Bruises and bumps all over her feet, wishing that she could admit defeat.   

The bucket is heavy, as is her heart, and she's facing the journey. 

 
It’s time now to start. 

 

Can we stop this unsafe issue punishing the innocent and letting the hawks fly free. 

It’s our job to educate the youth, don’t you agree? 

We are killing our children with the source of life, but millions of people use it like a smile when it’s really a knife. 

clear but dirty

Drops of water slowly leaking

A canteen, half full
under the blistering sun

finally getting back 

Exhausted
Hungry

Untaught

Water dripping 
losing something so cherished

Unhurried

Untouched

Treat water as a diamond

You waste me like i am nothing

You treat me like i am nothing 

Sooner or later you will drive, walk,and run miles and hours for me
Do you miss me yet?

I am the messenger who flies through hell to bring life and death,

   who suffers six hours of strife,

   who carries 40 pounds on her head but also carries the infinite burden of guilt.

I am the messenger who brings the liquid of chance to those who can not come any closer,

   who will never be taught, who will never learn,

   who is invisible but needs to be seen.

In some countries, there are poor communities and small villages where women are forced to embark on a daily trip to get water. Many women travel about four miles to get water each day, wasting time that could be used for school and work. Although women play important roles in gathering water, parenting, and even construction, they are seen as weaker and less important than men. 

I watch as the clock ticks - every second, 

For her, 

Feels like a year.
I watch as her knowledge sits with herself.

I watch as she stumbles,

Water drops fall.

Miles, miles, and miles in the screaming heat--

Just to rake your fingers through mud,

In search of something crystal clear yet veiled to the eye...
Why does a girl like you sacrifice her future for her brothers?

I am a girl, like you, but I can just turn on the faucet.

No he has to go to school.

Can I go to school?

No you have to get water. Understand?

“Oh, yes mommy” she says realizing she should save her breath for the long barren trek through the desert carrying dirty water that makes poison look like orange juice.

Everyday it takes hours just to get to you.

You took away my education.

People have lived because of you

People have died because of you.

My legs ache from carrying you all the way home

But i need you without you i couldn't live. 

Even when when my pockets run dry. 

-A girl on her walk for water

Young women are told to act a certain way,

Yet they travel 6-7 miles for water every day.

They are told that they are weak and not strong:

Yet their oppresers do not see where they are wrong.

Women are held back and men are given the choice,

They still are trying to take away your voice.

A cycle of work I cannot break.

The low ringing sound of a bell, merry jangling shouts. 

Like a siren call of urgency as I walk past,

A reminder of where I cannot go, 

But I will never be golden.

The land is dry, so the plants will die

As they crinkle up, antelope are left with hunger

When they fall the lions fall with them

Craving mouths, no meat on the table

Then the people turned into dinosaurs 

As the asteroid hit of fatality, slowly becoming extinct

young girls losing hours of education 

Women trying to meet the expectations

Water retrieved could lead to depression

As the child shows their last expressionn

Their sweat beading

Their thirst needing 

To be quenched

Women journeying,

Men earning

Girls yearning

Boys learning

This is my home, my home sweet home.