WaterAid - Supporters' Trip 2007

In March 2007 we supported Vincenta Leyden from our Communications Team to join the WaterAid Annual Supporter’s Trip to India. Vincenta was the only Northern Ireland representative to join a group of 24 supporters from the UK and Australian Water Industry.

From Dehli, the capital of India, Vincenta travelled down to the western regions of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where the problems of clean water, sustainability of water, sanitation and hygiene education are most acute.

Whilst there has been significant state-led investment in the installation of hand-pumps in India over the past 50 years, poor record in operation and consistent maintenance mean that there are real challenges in the area of sustainability. Figures released by government of India indicate that drinking water provision is as high as 90%, however taking into account issues of sustainability and access, the figure could be as low as 50%. This was witnessed by Vincenta when visiting the Mudhkheda Village in the Shivpuri district.

“There were only two hand-pumps in the village. One hand-pump was piped into one higher caste household, the other hand pump served 105 households. That meant 477 families had access to only one hand-pump. Not surprisingly this hand-pump broke down regularly. However to have the hand-pump repaired could take anything from four to eight weeks. Meanwhile families would have to look to another water source. At times families approached the higher caste family for water. However the institutional caste system in India is such that higher caste families shun lower caste families. Indeed problems of supply are further exacerbated by rife discrimination and exclusion based on caste and gender. Lower caste families are simply invisible”.

Sustainability of water sources and quality of drinking water is a further problem for village such as Mudhkheda Village and throughout India. Large amounts of water resources for industrial and agricultural use has resulted in declining availability of water and the deterioration of water quality. In this region, Vincenta learned that water scarcity is a real problem as water supply can only fulfil the needs of half of the community. Water quality poses an additional threat, with chemicals such as iron, arsenic and fluoride present in the water supply.

WaterAid India had not yet started work in the Mudhkheda Village, but was preparing to work there in the future. Vincenta witnessed a village mapping exercise and WaterAid began the process of hygiene education with the community.

 “The mapping exercise is conducted by the community, everyone gets involved in plotting the whole village on a map, including open defecation areas and access to water including hand-pumps. The map is copied by hand and becomes the vision or mission statement of the village to become open defecation-free. At this first session, WaterAid will ask prompting hygiene questions for the community to realise the link between open defecation and diseases such as diarrhoea”.

There is much work to be done in this village, as the community is totally illiterate, the majority of children do not attend school and only 3% of the village has access to a toilet. This means men, women and children defecate in open spaces exposing themselves to disease, lack of privacy, and indignity. Vincenta met some women who had been attacked whilst seeking privacy to go to the toilet. During the day women, even pregnant women, generally have no option but to wait to nightfall to go to the toilet.
Vincenta heard of many people who have become ill and died from preventable causes. Children too are vulnerable with four children dying every minute because of preventable water borne diseases, such as diarrhoea.

Vincenta witnessed the broad benefits of WaterAid’s work in villages such as Gangora which is proud of its open-defecation status. Every household in the community has a toilet and are actively living a hygiene-aware life. “The contrast between villages where WaterAid had no existing programmes and villages where WaterAid was established is stark. I visited the school in Gangora where there was a strong ethos of hygiene education. Trained children had the important task of educating parents and piers to the benefits of hygiene and latrine use. Children also learned important skills of running toilet; hygiene; ground maintenance and garden committees. Children here were confident, full of promise and respected in their community”.

Whilst Vincenta returned to Northern Ireland with a rich personal experience and hope for the villages visited, she acknowledges that much has to be done. We need to increase the pressure so that water, sanitation and hygiene education reaches the world’s poorest people, which is why we would urge people to support  End Water Poverty by sending a campaign postcard to Angela Merkel, German Chancellor who is hosting the next G8 meeting to commit to a global action plan for sanitation and water.

To find out how you can help, visit www.endwaterpoverty.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a FACT!
Access to clean water and sanitation facilities is a basic human need. However over a billion people in the world still live without safe, clean water to drink, killing 5,000 children every single day.