Nigeria: Rural Life

In 2005, 52% of Nigerian citizens lived in rural areas. In 2002, 49% of rural citizens had access to improved water sources, and 30% had obtained improved sanitation. This leaves 51% of rural citizens without the substantial amount of drinkable water us Americans take advantage of each day. 70% of rural citizens are forced to use some other makeshift form of sanitation. This statistic however, is less alarming to me than the water statistic. It is one thing to say a group of people are without clean water, but proper sanitation to me goes under the category of lifestyle. Sanitation to dehydrated rural citizens of Nigeria is probably not one of the top concerns, considering the small percentage of diseases correlated with poor sanitation in Nigeria. As Americans we tend to form opinions about the economy and general well-being of other countries in relation that of our own. In the book, we read that by definition, a rural citizen of Nigeria lives in a traditional manner, which was passed down from generations ago. Are these people necessarily poor? As modern Americans we have never had to truly "fend" for ourselves. We see hunting for food and living in huts as the quintessential barbaric lifestyle. This is the lifestyle that is in place, and if we look at the second statistic, we should be comfortable to focus all help on access to fresh water rather than building infrastructure -- we would only be enforcing our accustomed lifestyle upon a group of people who have lived according to tradition for centuries.