ohjojoscope
Follow the Leader
Water for everyone is an advocacy I strongly believe in, and is a topic that opens a plethora of insight into a community and its inhabitants. I learned from my guide that Banga-an gains its water from two sources: first, from an old underwater spring and more recently, from the very source of the Bomod-ok Falls. The black line you see overhead the hikers in the picture is actually the pipeline from the Big Falls bringing water up to the townsfolk.
No one pays utility bills for water in Banga-an. When resources are needed to repair the water mains, everyone pitches in with whatever they have to restore water pressure. Neither do they keep the water sources locked up, unlike in major cities where dams are kept under tight security. When I asked my guide a hypothetical situation where a disgruntled, crazed individual poisons the water sources, I almost saw a flash of a derisive sneer at my urban proclivity to distrust my own kind. She simply told me that no one would ever think of doing such a thing.
Passing through town (which was a bit larger than Batad) she waved and shouted cheerful greetings at everyone we passed to and fro the waterfall, and emboldened, I did the same and with a big smile. It’s the warmest feeling to smile at another person you don’t know and receive one in return. Everyone could do with a bit more of this small-town warmth.
Follow the Leader
Water for everyone is an advocacy I strongly believe in, and is a topic that opens a plethora of insight into a community and its inhabitants. I learned from my guide that Banga-an gains its water from two sources: first, from an old underwater spring and more recently, from the very source of the Bomod-ok Falls. The black line you see overhead the hikers in the picture is actually the pipeline from the Big Falls bringing water up to the townsfolk.
No one pays utility bills for water in Banga-an. When resources are needed to repair the water mains, everyone pitches in with whatever they have to restore water pressure. Neither do they keep the water sources locked up, unlike in major cities where dams are kept under tight security. When I asked my guide a hypothetical situation where a disgruntled, crazed individual poisons the water sources, I almost saw a flash of a derisive sneer at my urban proclivity to distrust my own kind. She simply told me that no one would ever think of doing such a thing.
Passing through town (which was a bit larger than Batad) she waved and shouted cheerful greetings at everyone we passed to and fro the waterfall, and emboldened, I did the same and with a big smile. It’s the warmest feeling to smile at another person you don’t know and receive one in return. Everyone could do with a bit more of this small-town warmth.