High mountains had been in the distance when I departed from Butha Buthe. Now they came closer and closer as the road wound along through valleys and villages; past people sitting around chatting to one another in the sunlight; past people walking from one village to another.

A young boy passed me riding a donkey. He was holding a plastic container, which I imagined was a water container that he was on his way to fill up at a well or a water pump.

Maybe even a river if the water was clean.

In the lowlands, Lesotho’s rivers were dirty. That was obvious in places where there were lots of people.

Although their homes often had satellite dishes and they had things as modern as cell phones, very often their homes did not have running water. Or there would be only one tap between many people and their toilets were usually long drops in the mealie fields rather than the type one could flush.

The road went one and on, higher and higher, steeper and steeper.

It was still a big, uphill ride for my bike, the old copies of National Geographic and me.

Image: Duncan Guy, CC-BY-SA

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Having running water in homes in an important part of service delivery. “Service delivery” is a hot topic in South Africa. Do you have any stories or comments about it?