Arielle Garton, from our Corporate Partnerships team recently travelled to Tanzania to visit some of Plan's exciting projects in Kisaware and Kibaha.
I had never given much thought to how much time I spend a day turning on the tap, filling up a kettle or running a bath. I would struggle to tell you how much water I use a day and despite turning the tap off when I brush my teeth, I am probably guilty of wasting perfectly clean water every day.
However, accessing clean water for me is not a challenge and evidently, before visiting Kikwete in Tanzania I had not been thinking about it enough.
Located in the costal region of Tanzania, Kikwete is a small rural community home to over 2,000 people. The children and families who live here face many challenges, but perhaps the greatest challenge for the people of Kikwete and the surrounding communities is the lack of a clean, easily accessible and reliable water source.
Although access to clean and safe water is a basic right, it is far from being realised in Kikwete.
Arriving in Kikwete, I was taken to see one of the water sources the community and surrounding communities were using. Down a steep and rocky path, I met a group of 15 women, some children and lots of empty buckets. Everyone was patiently sitting around a small hole in the ground, as one woman took her turn to heave a plastic container up from the well. As the container emerged I could see the water was dirty and most likely not very safe.
I asked the women how long they had been waiting to get the water, and was shocked to hear that one woman had been waiting all night. Many of the women had travelled several kilometres in the heat to reach the well, knowing that the journey back with the heavy load was going to be even harder.
It is not just women that have to spend hours on end collecting water, but children too. Many of the children I spoke to in Kikwete missed school because of this, causing them to miss out on vital parts of their education. However, the effects go even further. In the region, the lack of clean water has caused rates of diseases like cholera and worm infestation to become prevalent and children are lagging behind in education.
But with the help of Plan, things are changing in Kikwete. Plan is in the process of constructing a major water distribution system, which will pump water from more than 40 metres below the ground and distribute it to ten points within Kikwete, allowing all the community to easily access clean water.
The impact this will have on the people of Kikwete is powerful. Women will not have to spend as much time at the well, allowing them to work and spend more time with their families. Children will not have to miss lessons at school and people will no longer be exposed to as many health risks. All in all, the new system has the potential to change lives and the children’s futures in Kikwete.
The women I met in Kikwete knew exactly how much water they used a day, they knew exactly how long it took them to get the water, and they definitely were not in the business of wasting it. Although I still can’t answer all those questions, thanks to these women I now fully understand the value of the clean water I drink and the impact it has on my life.
Arielle Garton
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