Proper sanitation in Indonesia

The people of Aceh in Indonesia had already been living with years of conflict and instability when the devastating tsunami hit the region in 2004. Since then, many have been living without access to basic services including clean water and sanitation facilities. In some areas, a lack of basic hygiene practices such as washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet has led to the prevalence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea... Read More

Change in every home

Nyak Puteh lives in Meunasah Dayah village in the Beutong District of Aceh. The village is lush and green with a good water source but like many villages in the area, it has no sanitation facilities. Instead, people are accustomed to going to the river or forest when they need the toilet, unaware of the health and hygiene implications. “It is very unpleasant in the dry season because we have no water to clean up after ourselves, so the village becomes dirty,” explained Nyak. “It’s also a problem if we need the toilet at night because the forest is not safe... Read More

Bringing water to rural Malawi

Over a third of the population of Malawi have no access to safe drinking water. In villages that do not have proper boreholes people rely on surface water from rivers and dig shallow wells to access water in the dry season.  These wells are also used by animals, which leads to contamination and increases the spread of waterborne disease. Diarrhoea is endemic in Malawi and every year there is an outbreak of cholera during the rainy season... Read More

The change of a lifetime

Linley Chikwekwele is 58 years old and married with four children, although two of her children have passed away. She lives in a two-room home made of mud bricks in Sosola village, where she has lived all her life. Facilities in the village are very basic – there is no electricity or water supply and children go to a primary school that is one mile away... Read More

Pumping water in Niger

Niger is a landlocked country with two thirds of its territory in the Saharan desert. The population faces severe water shortages and many women and children spend a large portion of their day fetching water for their families. In the Tillaberi region, less than half the population have access to safe drinking water which has a serious impact on the health of the most vulnerable groups... Read More

Water for vulnerable groups in Yemen

The Akhdam community in Yemen are among the country’s most vulnerable groups as they are marginalised from society and struggle to access basic services. Originally from the Horn of Africa, the Akhdam people have been fleeing hardships in their homeland and resettling in Yemen for more than a century. They live in poor urban and rural areas and are excluded from most social programmes... Read More