Abban now lives a stress-free life with clean water close to home
Dakwa is a large community located in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital City, Abuja. Despite being close to a satellite town, the community suffers from a lack of access to clean water. Before WaterAid’s intervention, the community relied on streams and hand-dug wells as their primary source of water. The lack of clean water negatively affected the community’s health, education and livelihood. It also meant that the community was unable to practice good hygiene.
22-year-old Abban Kano an Islamic teacher was forced to abandon his tailoring occupation and live with a disability because of wounds sustained from a gunshot incident two years ago. As one who uses clutches, the water scarcity took a toll on his finances as he depends on water vendors or neighbours’ generosity.
“Before water came into our community, we initially bought water from vendors which was expensive and difficult for persons like us who do not have a stable source of income. They were the only source of water that was closest to home. I could barely afford to buy water from them because of the accident, I no longer can do the tailoring job.
When I don’t have money to buy, I send to the neighbours to help me with water.”
Abban said that since the installation of the water facility, the spread of infectious diseases has reduced and they now lead healthy lives.
“We are a better community even in terms of hygiene because we have water available. In the past, diseases were spreading fast in the community because our houses are clustered together, and diseases spread faster.
We are protecting the water facility with our lives; we open it on a routine basis so that we can sustain the water facility and to discourage children from playing with it. We preach sustainability in the mosque and pray for the donors every day.”
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WaterAid Nigeria, with funding from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, implemented a one-year project to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene delivery in selected communities within Abuja and Lagos State. The project focused on increasing access to WASH services by constructing and rehabilitating water facilities in selected communities, gender-inclusive public sanitation facilities and improving hygiene behaviours. The project was designed to complement the efforts of the government in addressing access to WASH services and throughout the project.
