A Cup of Clean Water

 I am writing these words coming back from Ramadan food distributing in a small village in Nafousa Mountain, Western Libya.

Inside a ramshackle small shop on the side of the road on the way back on the abandoned highway, I found top prize! Three bottles of mineral water. Something I have not seen for a couple of months since I arrived in this troubled, undersigned area which is battling a fierce who-screams-first fight with Ghaddafi forces at this crucial time of the Libya uprising in the summer of 2011.

I have been drinking water that tasted of heavy metals and humility. For weeks, scarce ground water has been distributed, if you are lucky to have any, in sewage trucks. Even in dim light with lack of electricity most of the day, studying such water would give you an insight of how we are all connected as you see all these swimming animate and inanimate objects that will soon be part of your body.

No wonder then how elated I am with these water bottles. I imagine myself lying in my bed at night with a cup of clean water in my hand. What else could I ask for? You learn in circumstances like these to finally connect with clichés like appreciating life basics and not taking things like electricity, water, bread, and safety for granted.

Some people, like me, need to go to war zones to be reminded of these basic facts. Some people might thank me for ‘my service’ but I actually feel privileged to be here. What I learn about myself, and life outweighs by far anything I give to the suffering civilians in such difficult circumstances that bring the best and worse in humanity.

I hope you don’t need to go far away like me to appreciate a clean cup of water. And I hope I still remember these words back in “civilization”, where humanity is entitled and arrogant towards nature and its limited, non-complaining, resources.

Mustafa Marwan

Western Mountain, Libya in 25 August 2011