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• World Vision

A Quest for Water

Do you ever think about the water you drink every day? Water has been in this world since the very beginning, because water is a renewable yet limited resource. While it seems that water is unlimited due to it covering about 70% of the Earth’s surface, only less than 2.5% of it is drinkable freshwater. Of the freshwater not easily accessible, one-third is underground water supplies or wellsprings, while the other two-thirds are locked away in ice caps or glaciers.

In the Summary Progress Update 2021: SDG 6 — water and sanitation for all, the United Nations states that in 2020, 2 billion people, or 26% of the global population, lacked safely managed drinking water services free from contamination.

In water-scarce communities, women and children often suffer most, as much of the duty of fetching water falls on them. To complete this time-consuming and very laborious task, they often have to walk for miles to the water sources. Furthermore, how can children easily lift heavy jerry cans filled with water? In addition, children and women also face the following risks:

• Safety: Both the journey and the water source itself can be riddled with threats like venomous snakes and wild animals. Small children left alone at home can be very prone to harm, while mothers walk for water. Girls and women walking long distances alone are especially vulnerable to assault along the way.
• Poverty: The lack of water means family members have to spend extra time fetching water, which takes a lot of effort, limits their productivity, and devastates their livelihoods in the long run. The lack of water also often leads to crop failures and rising food prices, affecting the nutrition and growth of poor children as their parents struggle to provide sufficient food for them.
• Health crisis: Many water sources are filled with harmful bacteria, and children tend to be more affected by unclean water, contracting illnesses such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and intestinal parasite infection. Children washing in dirty water can develop eye diseases like trachoma, which can lead to blindness if untreated.
• Education crisis: Fetching water causes children to miss school or even drop out. They are also more likely to suffer from water-borne diseases that keep them away from school.

Change happens when clean water is made available. World Vision fully understands the importance of clean water to poor children, families and communities, and is one of the largest NGO providers of clean water in developing countries. Every 60 seconds, World Vision enables a hungry child to be fed, a family to get water, and a family to receive the tools to overcome poverty. According to World Vision’s WASH Annual Review (2016-2020), we provided an average of 3.86 million people per year with access to clean water.

World Vision’s water projects are grouped into the following two areas:

1. Water Supply and Access

• One of the ways to obtain clean water is by drilling a deep hole into the ground to extract natural water resources.
• As some places are seasonally dry but not completely without rain, the problem lies in the insufficient amount of rainfall. By providing large water storage tanks to help villagers collect rainwater, purify it and properly store it, there will be a more stable water supply throughout the dry periods of the year.
• Some water sources are located on mountains. By installing proper water pipelines, mountain water can be channelled to nearby communities.
• With the use of gravity-fed water systems, water can be brought to dry lands, turning them into arable lands for farmers.

2. Hygiene and Sanitation

• World Vision does not just provide water and sanitation infrastructure, we also work alongside the people we serve, so that they can maintain the facilities once we are gone. Once facilities are built, teams of community members will be recruited and trained, and financial structures will be set up to pay for the expenses incurred, allowing the facilities to be well maintained to create long-lasting impact on the community. Community teams can also carry on the advocacy work started in the community, creating a healthier environment in which children can grow up!
• Many natural springs have good water quality, but they are often polluted due to shared usage by men and livestock. To make sure community members can enjoy safe drinking water, World Vision works with them to protect clean water sources, and limit cleaning and washing activities to designated areas.
• In communities where water gets polluted by bacteria, water-borne bugs, pesticides, or animal faeces, depending on the pollution levels, certain purification measures can be undertaken to make the water safe for drinking. When necessary, World Vision also provides suitable equipment e.g. water purifiers for community members.
• When disasters strike and water sources are contaminated, we ensure that children and families affected have clean water at their disposal.

Access to clean water is not only a daily essential for everyone, including children, it should also be a basic right for all.

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A Life Changed by Clean Water

Since she was just four years old, Liddah has been collecting water before school. Therefore, it can be said that access to clean tap water changed everything for her.

With a degree in agriculture, Liddah now works with us at World Vision. Recently, she has been working alongside a drill team as a technical advisor, bringing water to communities across Malawi. For her, finding clean water is not just a technical exercise, but a spiritual one. “God created water and when we are drilling, we make a deliberate effort to seek guidance from that same God to provide water. I just thought that’s the way life is supposed to be,” she says.

Liddah continues to tell her story: I grew up in a remote area. In my community, we would walk for water early in the morning and then go to school. We went to a river for our water, but when it dried up, we’d have to walk to another village. Usually there were long queues and I had a permanent bald spot on the top of my head from where my bucket used to rest.

I started collecting water at four years old. I am the first born in our family, so my mother mostly relied on me to help her with collecting water. In the morning, I was supposed to collect water at least three times and make sure my sisters cleaned their faces and feet before going to school. I was usually late for classes because of my responsibilities and tired most of the time whilst at school. This affected my concentration and performance in class.

It is not easy for a family to live a life without clean water. I know it well. Families need clean water for cleaning plates, washing nappies and clothes, bathing, cooking, and washing hands after visiting the latrine and before and after eating. All these things need water in the home. When women spend most of the time fetching water, they don’t have that time to contribute to the community or take care of their babies. They can’t prepare food, they can’t earn an income, and they can’t support their children with homework.

When I was in grade seven, I had the chance to leave the village to live with my uncle in town. I was lucky. At my uncle’s house, life completely changed because there was in-house running water. Every day, I would wake up, take a bath, eat breakfast, then my uncle would take me to school with his children.

Because I was able to finish my education, I have a good future. It is the reason for who I am today - the reason I can work at World Vision, providing technical support in water, sanitation, and hygiene to help bring clean water to communities.”

Joy Comes in Clean Water

The value of water is about much more than its price. Water delivers enormous value for households in many ways, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. For World Vision, safeguarding this critical resource for the benefit of everyone is at the heart of its projects in drought-affected communities.

“The water pans and water kiosk are a big blessing to me. Before World Vision built them, I spent a long time walking to get water for cooking, washing the children and for my animals. Life was difficult for my children and me, because we would spend nearly half a day looking for water. At the water point, the queue used to be long. We are now happy as a family because getting water is a joy and not a pain like before,” says Dama, a resident of Mapotea Village, Kenya.

In this project in Kenya, World Vision has established an effective water infrastructure system and trained communities on how to effectively manage it. “This is a one-of-a-kind water project that we have done. The system is fully automated, resulting in very little water wastage through spillage. The system also utilises solar energy, which has greatly reduced the maintenance costs,” says Dennis, project manager for World Vision.

The community also has a water committee that was trained on how to use the system, maintain it and manage finances generated from selling the water. “The good thing is that the system is cashless. Money is loaded into the chip via a master card given by the bank. Through this system, we can keep track of litres of water dispensed and the amount collected. The machine is easy to use even for children and it is efficient in conserving water,” adds Dennis.

World Vision also installed a water kiosk in a neighbouring community, saving the residents the need to walk long distances to fetch water. “Before World Vision built this water point, we had to walk for a long time to get water for our animals and for domestic use. Now, our children and women are happy because water is near them,” states Hassan, a member of the community’s water committee.

Besides adults, children have also benefitted from the water project. “I like coming to the water point because it is nearby, I play with my friends and help my mother get water for cooking,” says Yusra.