Leaving no-one out

Blinded by trachoma, 56 year old Nyaama from northern Ghana needs to be led to the water source by a child.

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

For many of us it is hard to imagine life without safe water flowing from a tap and a toilet nearby at all times. But imagine not only living without these conveniences, but having to do so if you are elderly, disabled or socially excluded. Libby Plumb reports on how WaterAid ensures that no one misses out on safe water or sanitation in the places where we work.

Carrying heavy water containers for miles or navigating through thorny vegetation to find privacy to go to the toilet is an arduous task for the young and physically fit. For the disabled, elderly or those weakened by HIV/AIDS, it's especially difficult, and often impossible.

Many people have to rely on relatives to fetch water for them, or help them go to the toilet. This means little dignity for those being helped, and a huge burden on the caregivers, some of whom are just children.

That's why WaterAid sets a priority on targeting assistance to disadvantaged people who face extra challenges: people like 56 year old Nyaama from the village of Aurigo in northern Ghana, who was blinded by the water-related disease trachoma.

Since losing her sight she has had to rely on neighbourhood volunteers, usually children, to guide her to the water hole. "I go to fetch water - a child leads me there and I can carry it home," she said.

For Nyaama, catching trachoma has meant a downward spiral into poverty - unable to afford treatment, she lost her sight completely, and her earning potential too. "I didn't get any treatment for it - because we were poor there was no money to go to hospital. If I hadn't become blind I could have worked like the others who aren't blind and earned money."

WaterAid is helping the community of Aurigo to construct a well, which will save Nyaama and others blinded by trachoma from negotiating the long, rocky path to a water hole and free up their child guides' time for school or play. The safe water the well provides will also help the next generation to escape this debilitating disease.

Meeting real needs

For disabled Azrupa, the new handpump is a considerable improvement on hauling water up from an open well with a rope.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

As well as reaching out to the world's poorest communities, WaterAid strives to ensure all our projects are designed so they are accessible to all. Twenty-three year old Azrupa Gimba from Mugurou in Nigeria, is able to easily use the village's new handpump despite having only one hand. It's a big improvement on the previous situation, as Azrupa described:

"Before the new well was installed with a handpump it used to take me many hours to collect enough water. When it was just a rope, I couldn't pull it up the way other women do with two hands. I would have to pull it up a bit, then put the rope under my other arm, pressing down hard to prevent it dropping, then I would pull it up a bit more with my hand, move the rope up under my arm again and so on. Sometimes the rope would slip and I would have to start all over again. It was very hard. Now it is so much easier and so much quicker."

While Azrupa is able to use a regular handpump, where necessary WaterAid adapts or alters the technology to fit a community's needs. Elsewhere in Nigeria, where HIV/AIDS sufferers reported finding handpumps too strenuous, standpipes or tapstands are being favoured instead. In Mali, support handles are being fitted in latrines for people with disabilities.

Open plan, child-friendly toilets were constructed in India following feedback that children were scared of the dark, enclosed spaces of conventional latrines.

Credit: WaterAid / Alex Macro

In Tiruchirapalli in South India, discussions with mothers and children revealed that kids were scared of conventional latrines: they didn't like the dark, enclosed spaces and worried about falling down the drophole. In response, WaterAid's local partner Gramalaya set about designing open-plan 'childfriendly' toilets where children could squat over narrow drainage channels in the open air. They even painted a colourful mural on the walls, a gesture appreciated by 12 year old Martin who commented:

"Before we had these toilets we used to use ditches. Now I use the children's latrine. I like the animals painted on the wall."

Affordability

"I am exempt from paying the fees because I am old and I don't have a source of income." Zena Mbwana, 70, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

Many of WaterAid's projects charge users small fees to use water sources or latrines - money which is used to pay for running and maintenance costs. But care is taken not to exclude vulnerable groups on the basis of price. Often, the poorest households receive subsidies, as happens at the Barabara Ya Mwinyi water point in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania. Here disabled or elderly people are allowed to draw six buckets of water for free each day. It's a reassuring system for 70 year old grandmother Zena Mbwana who said:

"Before the waterpoint was here I had to go to an old, dirty traditional source. Each time I went there it took two to three hours and I went twice a day. Now I am old I don't think I could manage to go to the old source any more, but I can manage to come here because it is so close to my house. I am exempt from paying the fees because I am old and I don't have a source of income."

Tackling prejudice

WaterAid also strives to overcome prejudices that lead to minority groups being excluded from using water and sanitation facilities. In Ethiopia, hygiene education sessions highlight that HIV cannot be spread by sharing water sources or latrines. In Nepal and India projects have appointed members of lower castes to prestigious positions on water management committees to reduce the discrimination against them.

Each of these steps helps move towards WaterAid's vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.

For more information on WaterAid's inclusive approach download our report Equity and inclusion: Reaching the excluded at www.wateraid.org/equity