Amina Suale and her family of five live in Lumuamua, a poor and remote rural village along the coast of Northern Mozambique. Up until three years ago, the community relied on shallow, hand-dug ponds for their drinking water. Not only did these water sources fail to meet the community’s water needs, but they also propelled the spread of water-borne diseases such and diarrhoea, which causes around 10% of deaths in children under five.
In 2007 the community installed its first well. “Now, we never have problems with the water” explains Amina. “People come from all over the village to collect the water. There is enough for everyone and we no longer suffer from stomach aches and other illnesses.”Amina and her family are extremely relieved to have access to safe drinking water, as are the rest of the five hundred or so other villagers.
Even so, Lumuamua is a large and widely dispersed community and due to low rainfall, their next ambition is to install a second well to provide enough water for feeding crops and animals too. Amina’s final request that we put one in her back garden to save her the walk was maybe slightly pushing it, but the optimism is definitely a good sign.
