Water Shortage no Longer Threatens Ahmed’s Family

Al Rawnah is a small village located in Al Azariq district, Al Dale’e government. The majority of families in Al Rawnah village did not have access to improved water supply and sanitation facilities. In other words, achieving a sustainable and safe water supply has been an ongoing challenge for all communities there. The available unprotected well is out of service and in need of rehabilitation and it is considered as the main source for the community. Over the last years, water was collected from other sources, located more than 2 km from the village. In the summer, when water production decreases and the population's demand for water increases, the most of people would use unprotected wells for cooking and drinking. This increases the risk of transmission of waterborne diseases, because the quality of untreated water. To solve this problem, NMO rehabilitated the main water sources of the village. The project is being implemented with support from the Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF) as part of the integrated WASH and Food Security Support to the most vulnerable host communities.

Ahmed Saleh is a 55-year-old farmer living in Al Rawnah in Al Azariq district. Ahmed is married and has six sons and two daughters, he benefitted from the integrated WASH activities, which made him and his family able to move into improved living conditions.

Nahda Makers team met with Ahmed who shared how hard life was. “My life was so bad before the NMO team arrived in the village,” he said. “All members of my family used to drink unclean water which led to sickness”. “We would travel hours just to fill only one jerry can since distance was also too long; sometimes we may get water, or we may not, due to lack of water.” “Most of the time we did drink dirty water,” he recalled. “We were getting waterborne diseases when we used water from unprotected sources.”

Ahmed added, “instead of sending my children to school they used to go fetching water from other wells that are located far away so there is no time for them to attend school”. Most of the time there is no water for washing; therefore, we rarely take a bath due to the shortage of water, which affected our heath.”
“Now, I am satisfied that we have and easily reach a clean water, with the rehabilitated well and the constructed water points, it is easy—we just bring a can and fill it up. It is so great; our children are so clean and not dirty anymore. What is more, they can go to school every day. The well is helping them so much,” he said.
Ahmed Concluded "water shortage no longer threaten my family, we can get and drink clean water any time, which can make a good quality of life” My life has improved”. “I want to thank very much all those involved in this rehabilitation process of our main water sources, because I have enough water in my house for drinking, cooking, cleaning and other household activities”.

Nahda Makers Organization (NMO) as part of the integrated WASH and Food Security Support to the most vulnerable host communities in Al Azarik district, Al Dale’e governorate with funding from the Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF) intervened to rehabilitate the main water source of the village. NMO constructed new engine room, rehabilitated the main water well and a new water distribution point is constructed and installed near the well. Within the scope of the project, a workshop was conducted for water community committees and all members were trained on how to manage, operate and maintain their water supply scheme. A total number of 1895 are now benefiting from the project.