6 Water for Life
Timothy’s story
Njoki lived in the village of Luido in northern Inhambane province, Mozambique, with
her young son Timothy. He was a happy and healthy child until recently.
In their village, water was pumped up from a deep tubewell. The well and pump
had been built many years before by a development group. Once in a while a part
of the pump would break, but 1 of the development workers always knew how to
repair it or could buy a new part. But now the development workers are gone from
the region. There is no one left who knows how to repair the pump, and there is no
money for new parts.
When the pump broke again, Njoki’s village had to rely on a water hole far from
the village. The water hole, also used by many animals, was contaminated with
worms, germs, and parasites. Timothy soon became very sick with severe, watery
diarrhea. He became very weak and dehydrated. Njoki had no money to take her son
to the health center many hours away. Within a few days, Timothy died.
But why?: Building a chain of causes
Why did Timothy die? “But why?” is a question game that helps people recognize and
build a chain of causes that lead to illness and death. In this activity, ask the group
for ideas about what led to Timothy’s death. Each time an answer is given, ask, “But
why?”, helping the group to explore as many causes as possible. For example:
What caused Timothy’s death? He died from diarrhea and dehydration.
But why did he have diarrhea? Because he did not have enough safe water to drink.
But why didn’t Timothy’s family have enough safe water?
The village pump wasn’t repaired.
Continue the “chain” until you
run out of questions. You can
also return to an earlier link
and ask for more underlying
causes. For example:
Village pump
broken
But why didn’t Njoki make the water safer to drink?
T here was little firewood for boiling water
and no money for chlorine bleach.
Water
hole
far
away
The “But why?” game continues as
people contribute reasons for Timothy’s
death. A chain of causes drawn on paper
or on a chalkboard, or made of
Timothy
drinks water
with germs
Little
firewood to
boil water
cardboard or flannel, can be used
to show the causes for Timothy’s
illness and death. For each reason
given, another link is added to
the chain. In this way, people
can analyze the different
Timothy
gets
diarrhea
No money
for doctor
causes of water insecurity.
No
rehydration
drink