Nine hours

Help people like Segueda take their first steps out of poverty

In Burkina Faso, West Africa, Segueda Zouga has no choice but to spend nine hours a day collecting dirty water from a hole. Not only is it unsafe to drink but the long daily trek means Segueda has no time left to earn a living.

"As soon as the sun rises at 6am we go to fetch water. We take whatever containers we have down to the dry river bed and dig for water there. It can take three hours to dig deep enough to reach water and we have to go three times a day.

"I have had six children and yet only two of them have survived. My only choice is to give them water which is not safe to drink or no water at all. I worry about the water I give them constantly. All of us get ill often. My children and I get fevers, stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Many people in the village die.

"Water is the overwhelming problem in my life and in the lives of the other families in this village. All day I think about nothing else. At night I go to sleep worrying about fetching water and about what will happen if there is no water for us to fetch tomorrow. All of us go, old women, young women, pregnant women – even the children. We all have to do our bit. I know the children should go to school but what choice do we have? What use is an education if I can't give my children enough water to drink?"

She looks much older, but Segueda is only 45. She and her two children live with around 35 other people in a mud-walled compound. There are no men among them, they have to spend months away from home looking for labour in the Ivory Coast.

Water is the community's biggest problem but now WaterAid has plans to work with them and help them build a safe water supply. Once it is complete life will be different here.

People who have access to clean water and sanitation have better health and more time to improve their children's education, nutrition and family income; they also spend less on medicine. Safe water close to home will mean Segueda no longer has to spend her days on the search for water.

"If I didn't have to spend nine hours a day fetching water I could do so much more. Sometimes I try to spin the cotton we grow to weave cloth and make clothing, with maybe some left over to sell but I hardly even have time to do this. If we had water, my children could go to school and I would be able to spend time growing more food and cleaning the compound."

Sophie and Laurentine live in Bayandi Palogo where the WaterAid project has already made a huge difference to the lives of people in the community. Laurentine says, "We have a women's group where we make soap to sell. We also grow peanuts to sell."

Sophie adds that water, sanitation and hygiene education are giving her hope for the future. "The building of latrines has brought a lot of changes. And now we have learnt a lot about hygiene. Without safe water the children were often ill which stopped them going to school. Now I hope that my children will grow up in good health, do well at school and get a job."

Soon we hope Segueda will be able to tell a similar story.