Safe drinking water for children and communities

Establishing a stable and safe water supply to communities in Guli, North Sudan, will improve health and brings wider benefits to the children of the area.

Nearly two-thirds of families in Plan operational areas in North Sudan are denied access to sufficient drinking water and in Guli the problem is severe. Migration is common during the dry season and this hinders basic social services like education and health.

Plan’s programme unit in Guli, along with the government of the White Nile state and 11 communities, recently celebrated the grand opening of the first phase of the biggest water project in the area. The project will bring water to communities by pumping it through a 7km pipeline from the White Nile River.

The pipeline will eventually serve six communities: a total of 3,000 families.

This includes 6,150 children, who are currently responsible for fetching water every day from a distance of about 14km, taking several hours and leading to low school attendance and poor academic performance.

Ashaa (a housewife) said at the celebration, “In the past we used to ask our children to come back from school by midday in order to fetch water. We used to have to pay someone to bring us water if our children had an examination. This had an effect on my children’s schooling as well as our income.

“With the support of Plan we have water inside our village. This is a dream we did not expect in our lifetime. It is wonderful.”

Salim, a boy in Grade 5, said, “I will not have to ride on a donkey to collect water, it is available, and all my friends will enjoy schooling instead of fetching water.”