Taking charge in Takkas

Suzanna Tuwan explains the positive changes that have taken place since WaterAid began working in her community.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

For as long as anyone can remember, the women of Takkas, in Nigeria's mountainous Plateau state, collected water from a river nearly an hour's walk away.

Sometimes in the dry season, they would actually have to dig into the riverbed to find water. At the height of the summer rainy season the river flowed with a very strong current and they had to make sure there was always someone else around so they would not get swept away.

Four years ago WaterAid was approached by COWAN (Country Women Association of Nigeria), a local NGO to ask if we could help them improve the lives of women in this region of Plateau. The answer was yes.

"Before we had the well it used to take at least two hours just to collect water from the river," says 40-year-old mother of six Suzanna Tuwan.

"I had to take the children with me and they were always late for school. Now it takes less than 30 minutes to fetch water, the children are never late for school and I have much more time.

"Since we received hygiene education I make sure that we always wash our hands before and after we eat and after we defecate. I make sure the children clean themselves properly and that the house and grounds are swept. Before this diarrhoea was common with the children, now we almost never see it.

"With the extra time I have and the money we save now that we are not always having to buy medicine for the children, I felt able to take advantage of a small business loan from COWAN.

Suzanna with one of the latrine slabs she makes to sell to the local community.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

"I used the money to buy cement to start building latrine slabs for people in the village. I built the slab for our own latrine. It costs 600 naira (£2.65) for the cement, which I mix with sand and I sell the slabs for 900 naira (£4.00). Because they are so big and heavy I have to go to their homes to build them.

"In the dry season this takes a day using a mould I borrow from COWAN. In the rainy season it can take three days to build one.

"Some people think building slabs is a man's job, but I think whatever a man can do, a woman can do.

"Only about 10% of the families in the village have proper latrines. I would like to see everyone get one, not because it would make money for me, but because it is so much better to use a latrine than to go to the bush. That is the main reason I decided to learn to build slabs and get our own latrine - to stop my children using the bush. It is not healthy.

"For five years now I have been trying to make a little extra money by making locust bean seasoning for soup. You get the seeds from the beans, wash them, pound them and form them into paddies which are very spicy and can be used in any soup.

"I used to sell them for small amounts or trade them to other women in the village. Now that I do not have to spend so much time collecting water, I am able to produce many more and once a week I go to the market and sell them there.

"This means I can make a much bigger contribution to the cost of the children's education."

Suzanna's oldest son, Bamshak, has just graduated from studying Hausa at college. Her oldest daughter, Gladys, is currently studying agriculture. Her next daughter, Nanman, is waiting to start college and her middle son, Nicefor, is in secondary school.

Her youngest daughter Peace, aged six, and son Fortune, aged four, both attend the local primary school.

"The future will be better for my children, especially my daughters. Knowing that makes me very happy."