Free and easy access to water – Shirshir Community
Every morning in Shirshir village[WS1] [WS2] , Mandera North Kenya, women walk a distance of 20 kilometres west of Ashabito to access water from a World Vision rehabilitated water system. This has become new routine since mid-August 2020 as a result of the dry season.
Lack of water and supporting resources has led to human-livestock conflicts. People are forced to share the water sources with livestock and sometimes even using the same water troughs stationed near the borehole.
Mama Fatuma, 38 years old mother of 4 children, is a resident of Shirshir village and a member of the Disaster Risk Reduction committee in her community. She knew too well that something was not right with the water system when people and livestock shared the same troughs to access water.
“The water troughs were only to be used to fetch water for human consumption, but they were used for both human and animal needs. This was unsafe and unhygienic,” said Fatuma.
She was among many women who benefited from the project. The hustle of fetching water has been reduced and is now less dramatic. Day in day out, women scrambled at the water troughs risking injuries and infections especially at this time when there is a pandemic and where social distancing must be observed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 virus.
Because of the project, community members are now trekking a shorter distance and take less time to access water at the water point. World Vision plans to train water users and have a committee to continue managing the facility.
During the community vulnerability and capacity assessment (COVACA) process, the community members were trained on rehabilitating water tanks and kiosk using pipeline system.
“We are grateful things have changed for the better” says Fatuma.
Now, fetching water has been made easy with water booths in the middle of the town.