The picture of children fetching water from a borehole, executed in a realist style with Cubist influences, is among Ronex’s great achievements as an artist. Ronex could not have chosen a better title for this picture, which evokes the chaotic urban quest for water when it happens to be scarce. The many jerrycans in the foreground attest to the water woes of the moment, and one can imagine how many people are waiting for the opportunity to get near the mouth of the borehole. The painting remained in Ronex’s personal collection for seven years after he made it, and it was among favorites he displayed in a small exhibition space at his studio near Makerere University.
