Sunday, August 24, 2014

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

First and foremost I want to thank my dear friend Britta Deux (danke) for nominating me for the Ice Bucket Challenge. I got nominated in German, how cool is that?!

Second, I apologize for not completing it in 24 hours, high speed internet and electricity are hard to come by down here. Video uploading almost out of the question.

Since this challenge is about awareness I'm going to go ahead and make you all aware of a situation in the DR and in most developing countries. Clean water is hard to come by. Water has not come out of my faucet since June. It's August 24. Can you imagine?
I'm not complaining, as this is what I signed up for but think about the people in my region who haven't had water to cook or bathe with at their fingertips for months. They didn't sign up for that.

Now, think about how strange the ALS Bucket Challenge looks to them on Facebook. People dumping a bucket of cold water on their head...but with that bucket of water the average Dominican (and I) could bathe at least twice. Oh and the water's cold? Yeah, our bathing water is always cold. Refer to my post on Bucket Bathing 101. At 7am that water is freezing.

Drinking water is a whole other issue. The large bottle in this picture costs about a dollar, which is almost 10% of what an average Dominican makes in a day's work.


I have nothing against the cause. In fact, I will be donating. 
Will I be dumping a bucket of water over my head? No, because I need that water to wash dishes, cook, clean and bathe. 
Will I nominate more people? No, because this is about awareness and I think people should donate without wasting water. 
I am super happy for the ALS community and the attention and donations it has received, just encouraging people to be aware!