"
I'm melting: 39 degrees centigrade in the shade. Imagine under
the sun! Netiti, in the middle of nowhere: jerrycans lined
up in front of the booms designed for daily water supply,
dryness, the sun, and impassive faces. But I know that the
needs for water are increasing. SOLIDARITES' drilling machine
arrives, the team begins to identify potential sites; a man
looks at the equipment we brought along and asks: "Are
you going to find water for us?" A new hope is born..."
(Ahmed, camp manager for SOLIDARITES at Nertiti,
west of Darfur.) |
" The objective of the programme
financed by ECHO is to reduce mortality and morbidity related
to recurrent waterborne diseases that affect populations living
in camps. There are several components to this programme:
building latrines, maintaining and setting up hand pumps,
creating new water points, and sensitisation to hygiene rules.
I often heard the following argument: "Brown water? But
that's what we drink every day." We must teach mothers
to change and improve their habits. It's a long term job and
it will produce results over the time...
"
(Quentin, a volunteer hydraulician for SOLIDARITÉS
in Darfur) |
|
PRESENTATION
OF OUR WATER PROGRAMMES
Sudan
(Darfur):
making water spring forth in the
desert
In spite of pressures by the international community, the
humanitarian situation in Darfur (West Sudan) is one of the
most alarming ones in the world. Over one and a half million
persons are displaced in the three regions affected by the
crisis and around 200,000 have died.
Because of the violent actions committed against these people,
they do not wish to return to their homes as long as peace
has not been restored. As they have lost their goods (crops,
shelters...) and have no perspectives in terms of farming,
their needs are considerable. Many of them have started to
build solid houses, but prevailing insecurity does not allow
them to hope that the situation will improve quickly. This
massive population influx generates a major imbalance and
also threatens the region's resident population. Traditionally,
Darfur rural inhabitants live with less than 10 litres of
water per person and per day, including all uses.
In the Sahel area of Darfur, water resources are scarce.
Sedentary or nomadic inhabitants capture water:
-
In "wadis": these are rivers that
only have water during the rainy season but where the ground
water is shallow. The villagers dig wells, most of which
do not last long and are not protected from pollution or
animals...
-
In traditional wells when the ground water
level is not too deep
Sudan (Darfur):
making water spring forth in the desert
-
In the drill holes that were executed and
equipped with hand pumps – sometimes with electric
pumps, and a water storage tank – in the 1990s
The villages visited during the first evaluation performed
by our team present the same characteristics:
-
Poorly or insufficiently maintained water
sites, and very limited resources for the population
-
An influx of displaced families that makes
available water supplies even more precarious.
Hence, in order to meet the most urgent needs, SOLIDARITÉS
has planned to swiftly repair deteriorated hand pumps, to
launch a drilling programme and to set up emergency supply
systems (pumping, storage, chlorination, distribution). Furthermore,
there is frequently no access to latrines, and this increases
the risk that waterborne diseases might spread, in particular
through contamination by unclean hands, human faeces (stools)
present in the environment. The existence of displaced persons'
camps in and around villages and towns generated a major sanitary
problem and a risk of epidemics. During an emergency operation,
SOLIDARITÉS also decided to build latrines in the camps.
Finally, a food and first-necessity products component was
integrated in the programme.
Emergency programme for water access
and sanitation, and food as well as non-food distribution,
carried out jointly with ECHO (Humanitarian Aid Department
of the European Commission) and the DAH (Humanitarian Action
Delegation) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Period from July 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005, for a global
budget of 956,000 Euros.
This programme was initiated to meet the basic needs of 226,716
persons in the Dejbel Mara and Muhajeria areas.
In terms of access to drinking water and to hygiene, it enabled
us:
-
To perform 17 drillings, 11 of which
were successful. The drilling team comprised 11 persons
(drillers, mechanics, drivers, labourers...) and a PAT DRILL
301 T deep hole hammer drill.
This machine, financed by the DAH (140,000 euros)
enabled us to drill 100 metres deep.
-
To rehabilitate/repair 86 hand pumps.
-
To build 181 latrines and 4 cesspools
(as regards the management of latrine and camp cleaning
operations, the population was consulted to find the most
efficient way of maintaining cleanliness in all the toilets
subject to intensive use)
-
To train 38 057 persons to hygiene rules,
by holding sensitisation meetings. The children and the
mothers, who are the first concerned by water fetching,
cooking, washing and cleaning, were targeted in priority
by this sensitisation. We emphasised the necessity to improve
peoples' behaviour in terms of using and carrying water,
protecting water sites, body hygiene and preserving the
environment.
Today, SOLIDARITÉS team comprises 25 expatriate volunteers
and 350 Sudanese operating at 8 bases in the south and the
west of Darfur, and in the capital Khartoum.
|
