Memories of My Youth - If I could go back in time to Fix the Struggle for Water

By Dr. Ben Oni, Professor and Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Deptment Tuskegee University, Tuskegee

The setting is Odighi - a village in Southwest Nigeria. It seems like yesterday-walking barefoot along winding narrow footpaths lined with shrubs, damp with early morning dew brushing cold and uncomfortably against my uncovered legs, heading, of course, to fetch water from a faraway stream. At the bottom of a steep valley lay the stream. It was our lifeline. There were no plastic containers in those days, no convenient vessels to carry water. Instead, we relied on calabashes - natural and fragile. I would kneel beside the stream, carefully dipping the calabash into the water and watching as it filled slowly. Sometimes, a thin line of water would escape through a tiny hole. The calabash would leak. I learned to adapt. Nearby thorn trees became unexpected tools of survival. I would pluck a thorn and wedge it into the crack to seal the leak - resourcefulness born out of necessity.

Then came the hardest part - the climb uphill. The return journey along the narrow winding path was always challenging. The heavily trodden clay path had hardened with time and became slippery beneath my bare feet in the early morning dew. Tree roots lay exposed across the pathway like traps waiting for a careless step. Each movement required concentration. One misstep, one loss of balance, and everything - the water, the calabash, the effort-would be lost. The weight of the calabash pressed heavily against my neck while my body leaned forward to counterbalance the load. By the time I reached home, my neck felt compressed under the weight and my legs unsteady from exhaustion. Yet, those difficult journeys shaped me. Now, transformed by technology and experience, those memories stir in me an eagerness to deliver water to the doorsteps of those who still walk the same difficult paths I once did. Leaning on the World Bank's Mission 300 which aims to connect 300 million people to energy access by 2030, and the "Building A Water Secure Future" with a goal to improve water security for one billion people, it is difficult to contain my excitement that two of humanity's most pressing challenges - safe water and electricity - can be solved within a lifetime.

The vision is clear: energy from the sun driving electric pumps that lift water from deep beneath the earth, rivers, wells, or stored runoff water. Solar-powered ultraviolet systems purifying water into safe drinking water at the push of a switch. What once required exhausting journeys through valleys and forests can now flow directly into homes and communities.

My research in electrical power systems analysis, renewable energy, and practical applications fuels this excitement. Equally inspiring is the potential of the team at Tuskegee University, where chemistry and biology faculty engaged in water treatment research would strengthen the scientific foundation and implementation of this vision. The history of Tuskegee University - a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) - is itself a story of overcoming hardship through knowledge, skill, and perseverance.

Our past reveres Booker T. Washington, Founder of Tuskegee University, who combined education with practical skills. He taught students to make bricks to build the campus with their own hands. We remember George Washington Carver, who transformed peanut farming in America through innovation and teaching. Through his Jesup Wagon - a mobile classroom - he carried practical education directly to rural communities.

That tradition continues today. As Dr. Mark Brown, President, Tuskegee University, leads through what he calls the "Renaissance Era" he reaffirms the University's enduring educational philosophy: "We train the Hand, Heart, and Mind." That philosophy now guides the return home of the "youthful me."

If I could go back in time, I would stand before my younger self and the community with excitement and purpose. I would explain the hidden power of the sun - not only to light the night apart from the moon, but also to power homes, charge cell phones, and pump clean water into villages. I would teach the fundamentals and safety of solar energy systems. More importantly, I would help develop community knowledge and technical skills around solar technology to create local expertise, entrepreneurs, and innovators capable of sustaining the impact of Mission 300. Sustainable progress cannot depend solely on infrastructure; it must also rest on knowledge, training, and local ownership.

Yes, if I could go back in time, I would not erase those experiences. I would walk those paths again and feel that struggle again - not as hardship alone, but as motivation. Motivation to guide my hands, mind, and heart toward bringing water closer to homes and hope closer to communities.

The journey for water may no longer be the same, but its story will live on in me forever - as a reminder that true progress begins when painful memories inspire purposeful action.