When hours turn to minutes, we bead the pain off our waists
Located at about 7 Km from the headquarters of Itigi District Council town is Kihanju village where almost 2000 community members reside. It is bordered by Sanjaranda in South, itigi Town in North, Songambele in East and Kitaraka in west. Until two months ago, there was no reliable water supply in Kihanju. People in Kihanju depended on unprotected water supply sources mainly local dug shallow well.
Along with the residents of Kihanju, Monica Gasper walks us what she went through before the availability of clean and safe water at Kihanju. As a married woman with three children, she is a stay home mother who spends her time in her little farm but not as much as she used to spend time walking to find water in local and unsafe wells. Monica used to wake up in the morning to prepare her children to school and there after starts to hunt for water for hours.
“I remember when I was pregnant, it was very painful to fetch water because the well is like ten feet deep underground, and we use a 10 litters bucket and a very long rope to pull the water from underground, the process led to excruciating pain in my waist given my condition at that time, this didn’t only happen to me but to many women here”.
With the rise of water insecurities, the lack of safe and sustainable water supply, denies women and girls productive time to engage in education and economic activities. Women and girls also bear the burden of family morbidity and mortality caused by preventable waterborne illnesses. Through an existing relationship between WaterAid and Serengeti Breweries Limited, we implemented Kihanju water supply project to provide clean and safe water to about 2000 community members in Kihanju and contribute to improving health of target community members. With 50 TZS, one can get 20 litters of clean water from the water points by dropping the coin inside the water point.
WaterAid considered installation of e-taps in 2 water points to increase in the revenue collection efficiency, cost-saving as there is no need for the tap's operators and thus reliable and sustainable water supply in Kihanju village. With a big beam on her face, Monica proceeds to tell us of how relieved she is, now that the water point is a few minutes away from her home. “I carry my 2 years old child on my back with pride knowing that we both won’t be spending hours in the sun.”
Lack of access to safe, sustainable, and inclusive water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) significantly contributes to the cycle of poverty, particularly impacting the lives of women, girls, children and the most vulnerable. Monica’s story speaks for a lot of women in developing countries, for the 200 million hours spent across the world spent each day by women and girls in searching for water. With Climate change adding gasoline to the fire, the journeys searching for water are usually weary and dangerous. For the few ones who are lucky like Monica, they live to tell their tales of when water was a myth. Monica now has time to take care of her cattle’s, farm and gets back home in time to prepare food for her two children before they get back to school.
Water supply projects like this supplement the governments’ efforts under the Water Sector Development Program (WSDP) framework which targets 95% of Tanzanians in urban area and 85% in rural area to have access to safe water. The initiatives also play a critical role in in contribution towards achieving the SDG 6. Moreover, increase access to water is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases through proper handwashing with soap and water, ultimately support Ministry of Health on infection prevention and control to the pandemic diseases