Water is life. However, until today very few people have an access to clean water. Some even walk a long distance in search of water.
“I could not believe I got water so near my home. This, is a great gift,” said Asiyatu who is one of the beneficiaries of Islamic Relief Malawi water project introduced in Machinga.
The water from the the mountain serves over seven villages
Inside of taking care of the family, the Islamic Relief water project beneficiary Asiyatu spent half of her day searching and standing on long queues waiting to get water.
The nearest borehole was just a 15-minute walk away, but she often had to queue for more than 14 hours before she could get a share.
She said: “The queue was so long that I had to wait the whole day just to get two buckets of water for my family.
Asiyatu (Left) putting proudly getting her bucket
“When I become tired of waiting in the queue I would swap with one of my children. Often it would be after 6 pm by the time I got some water.
“The only time I would be able to get it without too much waiting is when I left home at 1 am when everyone else was asleep.”
“I was not able to help my husband on the farm because most of the time was spent fetching water for the family,” she said.
One of the tanks which is used to save water from the Gravitation water system
“We couldn’t take a proper bath and the children sometimes would not go to school because I had no water to wash their school uniforms.” complained Asiyatu.
Islamic Relief Malawi has installed a series of easily accessible taps – including in Asiyatu’s village – with plentiful water supplies and no need to queue.
Funded by Islamic Relief UK, the project is supplying water to 8,750 people in seven villages across Nyambi in Machinga District, southern part of Malawi.
“Now I have enough water for my family. We can bathe properly and the children are always clean.” Asiyatu proudly explained.
