Behind the lens: gathering stories of our work around the world

Paving the way for women and girls: Federesi's story

James Kimbiya, Communications Specialist in Uganda, met Federesi, 28, who's defying gender stereotypes working as a Technical Supervisor at the Buyende Water Supply Scheme in Uganda.

In the scorching sunshine in Buyende District, located 160km east of Kampala, Federesi kick-starts her motorcycle.

She’s headed for a field where 15 men are digging trenches to extend the piped water supply to provide more than 4,000 people with clean water.

Federesi oversees the technical operations of the area’s water supply, including maintenance, monitoring and expansion projects. She also makes sure that broken water metres are replaced, and fixes leaks and burst pipes in communities.

I watch as she skilfully guides the men to dig trenches that adhere to the agreed specifications and is actively involved when the time comes to lay the new pipes.

Federesi is the only woman working at the water scheme.

Resilience in the face of adversity: Millias's story

Dennis Lupenga, our Senior Community Voices Officer in Malawi, spoke to 74-year-old Millias, who made the difficult decision to relocate his family to be closer to a water source, leaving his livelihood behind.

I met Millias sitting under the shade of a scraggly tree in Kampheko 2 village in Ntcheu in central Malawi. The place was deserted except for Millias.

The family settled on the outskirts of Kampheko 1 village, 8km away, in a cramped house, but they quickly discovered there was no way to grow food there as the soil was rocky.

The land back in Kampheko 2 had been good, so Millias chose to return there to farm, leaving his family behind. He stays for five days at a time, before making the trip back to be reunited.

Although his family brings him water every three days, he risks being attacked by bandits or dying alone from disease.

Hope for Muluwork

Frehiwot Gebrewold, our Community Voices storyteller in Ethiopia, describes how clean water has transformed life for Muluwork and her family – a visually impaired mother-of-two from Finote Selam, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

When Muluwork greeted us at her house, for a moment I wondered if she could see. She walked towards us so firmly, with her son, Alazar, in her arms, and daughter, Yeabsira, 3, following closely behind her.

As we spoke, Muluwork told me how she lost her mother at a young age and her stepmother pushed her to find another place to live. She begged a woman from another village to let her live with her, and in return, Muluwork did all the house chores.

This included collecting water, which was frustrating for Muluwork as she had to depend on others to guide her to the water source.

Through WaterAid’s work in Finote Selam, Muluwork now has her own tap outside her home, providing her and her husband – who is also visually impaired – and their two children, with clean water whenever they need it.

My eyes were filled with tears, but Muluwork just smiled when she talked about her past.

Clean water means a healthy and dignified life for her family, a bright future for her children, and for Muluwork, it means starting life all over again.

The water thief: Durga's story

Ram Saran Tamang is our Communications Lead in Nepal. Durga's story stayed with him long after he left Dadatole, a village in eastern Nepal.

As we sipped tea, Durga recounted nights when she woke up quietly, slung a rope over her shoulder, and headed out with empty buckets – to steal water.

Her story felt like a thriller novel. Durga risked perilous paths, the threat of snake bites, and the guilt of leaving her baby home alone. She wasn’t stealing for profit or for the buzz, she was stealing so her family could survive. Her only alternative was an hour-long trek to a river, where the water was too dirty to drink.

On those nights, Durga’s destination was a well in a wealthier part of the village that was for the exclusive use of those who contributed to its construction. Since the well’s water was also limited and slow to replenish, the owners sometimes guarded it. When she was caught or scared off, she had no choice but to return empty handed or to go back to the river.

But thankfully, those nights are now behind her. WaterAid’s project brought a tap to every household in her village, freeing her from her midnight raids. Today, she is a Village Maintenance Worker, ensuring the water infrastructure is maintained so no one in her community needs to endure what she did.

The human impact of drought in Madagascar

This photo series, titled Fatike (pronounced fah-ti-kay) after the local Malagasy word for cactus spines, was collected by Ernest Randriarimalala in June 2022 to highlight the human impact of drought and famine in the Deep South of his country, Madagascar.

I am no stranger to walking for water. I’ve been joining people on their walks to collect it for over a decade, and I used to fetch my own when I was little.

But the walk I did in a village called Manintsevo, in the deep south of Madagascar, was unlike any other I’d experienced.

It was a walk that not only shattered my body and exhausted my mind. It left my tongue and lips crying out for a drop of water and kept me awake at night.

In the drought-hit region of Anosy, communities are struggling to grow crops, so people are forced to walk for miles on empty bellies across burning sand and over cactus-filled hills to collect water.

These people: men, women, and young children, only four- or five-years-old, are forced to do this brutal walk in the hope they can survive the famine.

I would have been so happy if, at the end of that walk, there was a refreshing fountain, or a beautiful waterfall. But after all those hours, all I found was disappointment.

What met us at the end of that difficult journey was a filthy pool from which the women and girls filled their jerrycans, before starting the long trek home.