Living on shifting sands

WaterAid hygiene promoters use cards to explain different hygiene practices on Erendabari Char.

Credit: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah

The communities, living on scattered sandbanks, called chars, in the centre of the vast Jamuna River in North West Bangladesh are some of the most vulnerable people in the world, susceptible to dramatic seasonal changes.

The land is sandy and dusty during the dry season, but when the monsoon rains come the river swells eroding the sand, often completely flooding whole chars - forcing people to abandon their homes and move on.

Thirty-year-old Amena Khatun and her family have moved over 15 times because of the floods. She is now landless and lives on other people's land on Balur Char.

She knows that she cannot stay here long, eventually the landowners will ask for rent or the floods will force her to move on again. Life on Balur Char is hard. Following the heavy floods in 1998 over 100 families, whose homes were washed away, came to live here.

They have just five tubewells for clean water and river water is used for bathing, drinking and cooking. Amena spoke of the skin diseases, stomach problems, diarrhoea and fevers experienced by the community.

"You ask about our lives, if you continue to listen you will not be able to control your weeping, with monsoon this is no place to live."

With the help of Abdul Gatfu a hired mechanic, Belal and Magada Hossain install their first tubewell.

Credit: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah

Despite this, generations of char people have lived on the sandbanks - it is their homeland and for years they have tried to overcome the floods to stay here.

Even if they wanted to leave, space is such a valuable commodity in Bangladesh that most simply couldn't afford land on the mainland. They are cut off from all development opportunities. There is no electricity, telephones or motorised transport, and the chars can only be reached by boat. People make their living by growing rice, rearing chickens and goats.

Development work on the chars is extremely difficult because of the vulnerability of the land. However on Erendabari Char, one of the larger sandbanks, life has started to improve.

The central area of the island is relatively free from flooding, although during the monsoon season people still raise their beds off the ground as a precaution. The floods can last for up to two months.

During this time the communities eat rice, lentils and chillies that they have stored in preparation. A communal boat is available to take them to the market to buy what little fresh fruit and vegetables are available and sometimes they fish.

Farijol Hque and Sarina Begum Sarina build their new latrine. They decided to get a latrine after their son fell ill with diarrhoeal diseases.

Credit: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah

For the last two years, WaterAid has been working here with Unnayan Shahojogy Team (UST) to help improve the living conditions. UST was established in 1986 and has focused its work on empowering the rural poor, particularly women, to mobilise their potential for their own development.

UST has been working on Erendabari Char with a partner called Go No Urinayum Songslha (GUS), who have helped many of the char communities establish water points.

Belal and Magada Hossain are two people benefiting from the project. They moved to Erendabari Char after they lost their land in the floods of 1998, and they are now getting their first tubewell.

Magada said that she wanted a tubewell to save her time and reduce diseases. She said "If we use river water for bathing we get skin diseases - the tubewell is essential."

Their neighbour Anna Khatun offered to help and brought water from her tubewell to soak the area where the new well would be inserted. Belal and Magada hired Abdul Garfu, a mechanic, to help them.

He installed the tubewell using the sludging method - tying a rope around the pipe to help him lift it up and down, pushing it into the ground until he reached safe water. A handpump was then fitted to the top of the pipe and clean water started to flow.

The handpump was completed by the construction of a concrete platform to anchor the handpump and prevent the surrounding ground becoming muddy.

Amena Khatun stands on eroded sand on Balur Char where she lives. The community here still use river water for bathing, drinking and cooking.

Credit: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah

GUS has employed Ismatera Begum as a hygiene promoter for seven years. She facilitates workshops at schools to promote good hygiene behaviours among teachers and womens groups.

When Ismatera began her hygiene promotion work people were wary, but after seeing the benefits of improved hygiene practices, they have responded positively. "The amount of diseases has been reduced and people now think about going to the doctor and asking for help," she explains.

"When we go to their houses they are now conscious about family health and will ask and answer questions."

Sanitation systems are also promoted. Farijol Hque and Sarina Begum Sarina moved here a year-and-a-half ago because their previous home was flooded. They have decided to construct a latrine after their three-year-old son, Badsha, was very ill with diaroheal diseases.

Sarina said, "I want a latrine because when we defecate outside there are chickens walking around which spread diseases. Diseases do not leave us."

Over 1000 people like Farijol and Sarina have now have water and sanitation on Erendabari Char, and another 2000 will be reached through the programme in the next year.