A sigh of relief

Malama Hajara, a mother of seven is in her early 30s though she looks like she is two decades older. Her bald head also makes her look old.

According to her, she has not always been bald. Like other women in GarinAbba in Funkaye Local Government Area of Gombe State in North East Nigeria, she has had to walk for over two kilometres every time she fetches water for domestic. And on every trip, she has always had to carry a large basin of water on her head.

She has done this for over 11 years right from the time she got married and started taking care of her family.

In Garin Abba, one of the major tasks assigned women and girls is fetching of water for family use. This is in addition to back breaking task of milling grains for food using their hands and stones, or where lucky, mortar and pestle.

Fetching water over two kilometres away, from a well 200ft deep or a stream over three kilometres away was however a priority she could not assign someone else. And for over 11 years, she carried water every day.

Fetching water has contributed to girls not going to school in the community. To access clean water, the girls and women often set out early in the morning. By the time they return from either the well or stream, there would be no need to embark on the trip to school as classes would have ended before they reach there.

The distance between the Garin Abba and the stream is almost the same as the distance from the community to Kupto community where the only primary school in the area is located. Therefore no adult female is educated in Garin Abba.

Two years ago, when ActionAid Nigeria and partner organisation, CFL got into the community, easy access to water was priority issue for women in the community.

In their analyses of issues affecting women development and how the men could support in the reduction of their labour, the women prioritised access to water closer home. For them, it would also guarantee getting their men to assist them with some of their chores.

Further analysis showed the community would need intervention of relevant authorities if they would achieve access to water in the community.

An advocacy team comprising women and men was constituted. This team contacted Local Government Authority and Water and Sanitation Agency to negotiate for support.

ActionAid Nigeria had supported the community in carrying out a geophysical survey, the report of which revealed sitting of water project in the community would require a borehole.

Although the local government authority agreed to support the project, local government area chairman however did not approve the total amount needed for the project. A hand dug well was therefore proposed, but the women rejected this, knowing the depth required to be dug to access water, and the stress of pulling water from such depth with rope and bare hands.

The community did not give up, “we now knew that the local government authority has a responsibility to give us water and we would not give up.

In 2010 ActionAid Nigeria supported partnership building, between the community, the local authorities and WATSAN, a private drilling company. WATSAN drilled the borehole at subsidised rate, which the community people paid through ActionAid support.

The local government provided the long lasting stainless pipes and technician to train the community members on operation and maintenance of the borehole.

Now men and children have taken over from the women responsibility of fetching water, while women, according to Hajara “now save some energy to take care of themselves.”

ActionAid is now working with Garin Abba on the promotion of girls education.