Tackling Water Scarcity in Nassarawan Kuki Community in Kano State, Nigeria.

Introduction

The road is dusty that leads to the community. As soon as you get off the highway, you step onto a dusty, reddish untarred road. On this, you drive on for 7-10 minutes before meeting the community. The road to the community is characterized with empty vast land on every side you turn. The ‘nakedness’ of the arable lands is covered with crops standing during the raining season as a result of the great farming capability of the people. According to the oral history of their elders, this community was founded more than fifty years now. Their forefathers were relocated by the government 25km away from the present site, to make way for the famous Tiga dam. Where the dam is situated now, was their original homeland. While the dam was constructed, Nassarawan Kuki community was created without any source of water.

The Water Challenge

According to WaterAid.org, 57 million Nigerians do not have access to safe drinking water. Around 450,000 children under five years old die every year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation. The ministry of water resources says 317 children die yearly in Nigeria because of unsafe drinking water (Onyishi, 2011, www.focusnigeria.com). The truism that says; Water is life can not be less true if we go by the records that water makes a significant percent of as high as 75% content of the human body (Wikipedia). Hence, Human beings cannot survive for long without water. Little wonder, United Nations designate March 22 every year as the World Day for Water.

Nassarawan Kuki community is 120km away from Kano city in Bebeji local Government Area of Kano State in northern Nigeria. Like many rural communities in Nigeria, it has suffered the scarcity of water from time in memoriam. Few government-owned boreholes were drilled but barely survived the light of day; they are standing now as old souvenirs of government efforts. The community utilizes a few locally made wells dug at the rear of the village. Unfortunately even those ones dry up during the dry season, leaving the community with one or two to use. Hence, women spend hours waiting for water to gather so that they can scoop from those wells. Sometimes, they go to the well at the wee hours of the morning to fetch water for household use. Obviously, the few wells do not serve the teaming women and the house chores they need water for. Consequently, some women travel between 3-5miles on foot or the men on bicycles to get water from the distant river for the use of the home. Is it not pathetic that people have to travel for roughly five miles to get themselves water to cook and drink? This is the lot of many in rural communities like Nassarawan Kuki. Worst still, all the wells are opened to dirt, making the water unsafe for drinking. This explains why typhoid and malaria are common sicknesses in this community because every person grabbles with it.

The Implications

We have read and heard the amazing stories of humans surviving for long days as a result of little water-source. The absence of water could be disastrous. An odd scenario is a situation where a woman delivered of her baby and there is no water to wash the baby or clean her up. Hauwa Ibrahim (not original name) is a native of this community. And has suffered the pain of going to fetch water every morning and evening for the use of her household. She lives with her husband and five children. It has become a routine that it does not seem as suffering but a way of life. However, on the occasion of her third child delivery, the story was not that palatable. This is because being the tradition to deliver of a baby at home; there was no water at Hauwa’s house as of the time she delivered her baby. The midwife had to send to the neighbors to get water for her to wash the baby and clean up the mother. Not many people made a fuss out of it but Hauwa was highly embarrassed. It dawned on her the enormity of the situation and has become an experience she will not forget for a long time.

As of the time of writing of this piece, little Muna was being committed to mother earth, her body shrunk as a result of the loss of fluid and untold suffering. She was less than 2years old, lively and smart. She caught ill with diarrhea and vomiting (cholera as result of bad drinking water). And within 24hours, she lost a lot of fluid and became very weak that necessitated drip. After visiting the hospital, the test revealed that she also had malaria and typhoid. As a result of consistent stooling, her intestines budged out. She was hospitalized and not less than 15 bags of water were infused into her body. Eventually, her parents took her to the city where a scan conducted indicated other complications that required surgery on her. To cut the story short, Muna did not survive it. Investigations show that unsafe dirty water contributed to her ailment that resulted in her death.

Improving the Situation

The stories of Hauwa and Muna (not lucky to be alive) abound in the community. I am confident most of the members of the community would have been elated and filled with the euphoria of celebrations to hear the news of a borehole being drilled in the community through the efforts of Pax-Amor Initiative and Budhrani Trust. ‘This is a dream-come-true” said Hauwa when she was interviewed. “I have not imagined that I could wake up and just go and get water, clean drinking water at that, just at the back of my house. We are very grateful to Pax-Amor Initiative and their partners for this great feat in our community. It is a beautiful feeling and very encouraging to keep surviving if you know people somewhere from afar distance are thinking positive about you and on how to make life better for you. This effort would not just help in household chores but reduce the rate of typhoid and malaria in the community that is caused by the dirty water we drink from the open wells”. Hauwa expresses the sentiments of many women in Nassarawan Kuki community on what Pax-Amor Initiative and Budhrani Trust are doing.

Pax-Amor Initiative

Pax-Amor Initiative (PAI) is a non-profit organization that strives to fill gaps in the areas of advocacy for good governance, conflict resolution, capacity building, hygiene, girl-child education etc in the impoverished community in northern Nigeria. PAI is equally committed to providing sources of safe drinking water to rural communities like Nassarawan Kuki. However, the job is enormous as many communities are in need of safe drinking water. PAI is handicapped because of lack of sufficient funds to do more. PAI is willing to partner, and is soliciting for donors and other NGOs whose visions and goals include ameliorating the sufferings of women and children especially on the issues of safe drinking water and hygiene. JOIN US TO PROVIDE SAFE DRINKING WATER TO OUR COMMUNITIES!