 About us |
What WaterAid does for us
Adam Hart-Davis, TV presenter and author of many books including two about toilets, explains why he believes water and sanitation are crucial to the world's poor and why he supports WaterAid. In British towns before 1850 the infant mortality rate was 50%. Of all the babies that were born, half did not survive to be five years old. They died of typhoid, dysentery, cholera, diarrhoea, and other similar diseases, because the drinking water was not clean, and in particular because it was often contaminated with sewage. The Victorians eventually solved this problem by supplying piped water into houses and building proper sewers. Once they had separated the sewage from the drinking water the infant mortality fell sharply, and now is less than 1%. In many poorer countries, however, sewage still pollutes the drinking water and these diseases kill two million children every year. Every 15 seconds another child dies from water-related diseases. What people need is effective sanitation, somewhere clean to go to the toilet. But in Ethiopia 94% of the population don't have access to a lavatory. In Afghanistan, Chad, the Congo and Eritrea the figure is over 90% and in 19 other countries more than 70% of the people have no effective sanitation. 40% of the entire world's population have nowhere to cleanly go to the loo. WaterAid was founded in 1981, in response to the United Nations decade of drinking water. The initial goal was simple - to try and ensure that everyone in the world gains access to clean drinking water. That remains their target, but provision of clean water is so closely intertwined with sanitation and hygiene that WaterAid now champions those goals too. They began in Zambia, and now work in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region. So what does WaterAid actually do? Simply, WaterAid helps people get clean water near their homes. Millions of women have to spend several hours every day walking to a source of water and then carrying home enough for the family. This is intolerable under any circumstances, but imagine what it must be like to have to walk five miles carrying a huge container of water in the tropical sun when you are pregnant, or ill. Quite apart from the sheer hard work, it is a terrible waste of time. When the water comes from a polluted river, or a muddy water hole used by animals, it is likely to be badly contaminated, and there is no simple way to purify it. The family have to drink it, and risk all the diseases that it might bring. What is more, because it all has to be carried, there isn't much of it. For all uses - drinking, washing, cooking - the average person in a poor country has around ten litres a day, which is roughly the amount you flush away every time you use the loo. This is what these women have suffered: "I remember when I was little and mum spent all day looking for water for us. We'd go without food all day." Natangamwaki, Amai, Tanzania.
"The water is not good in this pond. There are worms and so many ugly things in it. We collect the water because we have no alternative." Zenebech Jemel, Chobare Meno, Ethiopia. "It is terrible, awful water - I cannot describe how bad it is. We have had lots of diarrhoea in my household from drinking this. Many children in this village have died from diarrhoea." Anna Mulambe, Rusangu Hamakamo, Zambia. Every 15 seconds another child dies of water-related diseases. And the difference the projects make is clear: "Before we used to have to walk for an hour to get to the source, and then we often had to queue for four or five hours until it was our turn to collect water. As it wasn't protected people and livestock both used to use it. Now the water is pure. The animals don't defecate in it and we don't have to queue up at all. The children all used to suffer with fever, rashes, diarrhoea, and skin diseases. We don't have these diseases now." Akeza Hadish, Korkora, Ethiopia. Sanitation means rather more than keeping the sewage out of the water supply. In most villages the only place to 'go' is in the bush. Girls often don't like to go into the bush by day; so they wait uncomfortably for darkness, and then risk being attacked by animals - or by men. Pigs can wait to snuffle up the excrement, which is frightening for small children. If there are no proper lavatories at school, girls will stay away, and miss out on their education. The solution is the latrine - ranging from a small hut with a seat over a hole in the ground to the ventilated improved pit (or VIP) latrine. These perform several functions. First they provide privacy and safety for the users, often close to their homes, rather than hundreds of yards away in the bush. Second they keep the sewage away from water supplies. Third they protect the sewage from flies, which would otherwise settle on it and carry dirt and disease into the houses. Some latrines are also designed so that the sewage can be composted and later used for fertilizer, as Omar Salima, a farmer in Matamangwe village, Mozambique explains: "The compost produced has increased our yields and is producing better quality crops. Now we not only have enough food for ourselves but we have extra crops to sell. Maize, lettuce and peppers do best - they don't just wait in the ground, they shoot up just like that! In the past we had to buy artificial fertiliser and we could only afford to open a small field - just three hectares. Now we are able to farm 13 hectares." The third prong of WaterAid's attack is hygiene. All faeces contain millions of bacteria, and if these get into food or water they can cause serious illnesses. One of the simplest solutions is to persuade people to wash their hands after going to the lavatory, and to keep their utensils and houses clean.
"Now the latrines are so close to our houses that even if you are ill you can use them. We feel better because our dignity is preserved, especially the women. We have learnt a lot about hygiene. We keep soap next to the latrine and wash our hands. Before, 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." Sophie Zongo from Bayandi Palogo in Burkina Faso. Why do I support WaterAid? Because the changes are clear to see and I believe that everyone should have access to clean water and basic sanitation. And by 2010 WaterAid intends to be helping a million people every year to achieve these basic rights. Cost examples
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
