Colleen Shaddox
New Haven, CT

“I’ve been collecting stories about water poverty. I interviewed Darlene “The Water Lady” who trucks water to her Navajo community to fill household tanks. She told me when she grew up, they drew one bath a week. Each family member took a turn bathing. When they were done, the water was used to wash clothes. The clothes really never got clean in that dirty water.

Darlene and her brothers frequently smelled bad. They got bullied. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t go to school much’ she told me. She did not graduate. I learned that 30% of Navajo homes still don’t have plumbing. I went to St. Joseph, LA where what comes out of the tap looks like chocolate milk. I talked with Detroit parents who have gotten good at snarling hoses from house to house to help neighbors who have been shut off. I came home and talked to my friend David.  A principal at a Hartford school who wants to put washing machines in the locker room for kids who don’t have access to laundry. I’ve come to believe equity is impossible until everyone’s basic needs are met and we are miles from doing that. I actually do not think we’re even interested in doing it.“

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