An Open Letter of Complaint to the NWC and UWI Mona.
This drought is like the Never-Ending Story (without the awesome flying wish dragon, because we would all be wishing for WATER).
We are boiling, scorching, dusty, deprived and badly in need of showers. The halls of residence at the University of the West Indies Mona have been dropping like flies, succumbing one by one to the almost absolute water shortage. And you know once it hits New Post Grad, all hope is lost. It has been going on since early April (several weeks at this point), with no end in sight.
Maybe I’m being melodramatic.
Mary Seacole is down to about 4 functioning bathrooms (for ~200 girls). Water pressure falls to unusable levels every midday to late afternoon and I am about to start learning Native American rain dances. (Unless we’re in Taino rain god jurisdiction).
Maybe I’m not being so melodramatic after all.
I may sound like a spoiled little city girl, but I need my running water. Can’t live without it. At night I cuddle up to the certainty that if I need to spring from my bed at 2AM to go do whatever it is girls do in the bathroom (and we’re not telling) there will be water in the taps. This certainty is gone, and I feel like I’m free-falling towards a bed of pointy, unwashed rocks.
We need action. Of the blocked roads and burnt tires block road and bun tiya variety. I’m hesitant to call UWI out because the last time students got riled, some serious shit went down. But we are in dire straits. We can’t live like this for much longer.
Call the guild.
Call the principal.
Call TVJ.
Call Portia.
Book me a hotel room.
Book us all hotel rooms.
Something needs to be done and soon.
Sincerely,
Dehydrated and Destitute.
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The title of this post is appropriate because, according to Google, Spanish Town has been experiencing rainfall for most of this week. Clearly their rain gods aren’t pissed at them. Get your act together, Mona.
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It’s not just me, either: Final Year Student’s letter to the editor. If she thinks Mona only houses 600 students, she’s waaay off the mark. But otherwise distressingly spot on.
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Updated to add: IT RAINED TODAY. MY BLOG HAS A DIRECT LINE TO THE RAIN GODS. :D Or not.
well read robin 
I think it’s unfair for you to call out the University. In light of the water crises that is/was (I got a shower this morning thanks to the aforementioned rain) plaguing the KSMA, their efforts to supply its students with water is frankly commendable. The issue lies not with Mona but, as with most things in this country, with the shortsightedness of our government. The reason for the water shortage is the long standing drought, Kingston and St. Andrew being on the leeward side of the mountains receive less rainfall and as a result are more susceptible to drought. Why is it the government’s fault? Because, climate change due to man’s destruction of the environment has been a hot topic of discussion for the past umpteen years literally as every year we see higher temperatures. despite this, there has been n no move by successive governments to put measures in place that will withstand the revenge of mother nature such as building a new dam to facilitate the ever growing metropolis with a population that has grown exponentially since the two dams that supply the area was built however long ago. Secondly, and I must admit I don’t know much about the topic, Jamaica is an island surrounded by tonnes of sea water. Is it that much a stretch of the imagination to see about salt water filtration perhaps satisfying our water needs. Sea levels are rising afterall, why not use the excess? My two cents.
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Very comprehensive two cents.
I think UWI should still be held culpable, because they are a private institution and they like to boast about graduating the most innovative minds in the Caribbean. Shouldn’t those innovative minds be put to good use along with the UWI’s resources to come with some kind of sustainable development solution (including your seawater filtration idea)?
I’m also of the opinion that our government is useless and waiting on them to do anything of their own volition will result in us all becoming vulture food. However, because their only use seems to be destroying whatever natural resources Jamaica has left that will probably happen a lot sooner than if they had no use at all.
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