When we help a community dig a well or install a tapstand, it’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s the start of something life-changing.
It begins with access to safe, clean water, but it goes on to affect every aspect of people’s lives – in ways you might not expect.
1. Water is education
Sumaira, 28, conducting MHM session in Government Middle School Kalarwala in the village of Kalarwala, District Muzaffargarh, Province Punjab, Pakistan. Credit: WaterAid/Sibtain Haider
Spending time in the classroom is something many children around the world can only dream of. When they no longer have to collect water for their families every day, that dream can come true – opening up a world of new opportunities.
2. Water is health
Aisha Bello, 24, and her new born baby Sa’adat (3 months old) came for post natal check up and routine immunisation at the Family Clinic Area 2 Primary Health Centre, Abuja, Nigeria. Credit: WaterAid/Simi Vijay
It’s simple, but it’s true: safe water saves lives. It helps babies make it through their vulnerable first five years, gives new mums the best possible chance of survival and gives everyone a fighting chance of avoiding waterborne diseases like typhoid and diarrhea.
3. Water is livelihoods
Pump mechanic Dalia Soda and school student Annie Patrick, 15, at one of the WaterAid pumps Dalia maintains in Salima District, Malawi. Credit: WaterAid/Alexia Webster
From managing a water kiosk to brewing beer and training as a mechanic; around the world, access to safe water is giving people the time and resources to find jobs, learn new skills and set up their own businesses, helping them lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
4. Water is time
From left: Adeka Helen 17 whose best subject is science and wants to become a teacher, Miidi Janet 17 and right Amoit Jessica 16, both want to become nurses after school. All girls are happy to use the new latrine block because it has a bath shelter with a water connection and that the toilets do not smell. Credit: WaterAid/James Kiyimba
In many communities collecting water is a job for girls and women. Around the world, it costs girls 152 million hours, every single day. But when they only need to carry it a few steps from the nearest waterpoint, that time is freed up – giving them the chance to laugh, to play and to go to school.
5. Water is transformation
Fozia Indris, 13, is seventh grade student at Korebtit Primary School. Korebtit, Kalu, South Wolo, Ethiopia. Credit: WaterAid/Behailu Shiferaw
In the 1870s, “sanitary reformers” began a long fight to improve public health and prevent illness like cholera, diphtheria and typhpoid fever by managing and treating waste and sewage in Canada. Now we’re working with some of the world’s poorest communities, helping them implement that same change so they can look forward to a healthier, happier future.
6. Water is dignity
A child carries clean water drawn from a borehole in Basbedo, Burkina Faso. Credit: WaterAid/Andrew McConnell
Water is the things we take for granted. It’s the feeling you get from being able to wash regularly in a clean, private place. And it’s the knowledge that you can relieve yourself, safely and discreetly, in a proper toilet instead of out in the open, protected from the risk of assault or attack.
7. Water is life
Portrait of Mama Justine, 61 years old, fetching water at their newly built water point in Tatamo south village. Marohanina fokontany, Faratsiho commune, Faratsiho district, Vakinankaratra region, Madagascar. Credit: WaterAid/Ernest Randriarimalala
We never get tired of talking about water. Why? Because, quite simply, we can’t live without it. And because every day, we get to hear the incredible stories of how it’s changing people’s lives. Forever.
