Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water. Sara Abu Saleh & Ola Hariri

Hafiza wakes up in her bed, turning from side to side, irritated by the heat of a hot summery August morning in Beirut. The Air Conditioning in her bedroom is out of order. A drop of sweat is running down her forehead. Her throat is dry from the heat. Her body is dehydrated due to the alcohol she consumed in the neighbor’s house party last night.

Aching for a drop of water she sits up straight, looks around for a bottle of water. Unable to find one, she gets out of bed, drowsy, thirsty, and walks towards the bathroom to wash her face. She opens the water in the sink to wash her face. Seeing the water run down the sink, Hafiza feels as if she found an oasis in the desert. She was so tempted to stick her head under the sink and drink the water but all the while she was held back from doing so by the fear of getting sick from the tap water. So she sticks to washing her face and brushing her teeth. After having done so, her thirst grew stronger; and when she found herself out of bottled water, Hafiza rushed out of the house and started walking down the stairs towards the entrance of the building. The dryness of her throat was unbearable, it made her weak and drowsy, it made every step seem slower and endless..
She finally opened the gate to the street, rushed outside expecting to breath some fresh air, instead she felt the humidity in her nostrils and the heat on her skin. Her throat was getting torn from the dryness. She reach the mini market next to her house, ran towards the fridge and got herself a bottle of water as f it was the key to heaven’s door. Paid for it and drank it like it was the last drop of water she will ever taste.