Tilalem Kiros, 13, a seventh grader in Raya Azebo district in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia, wants to be a doctor when she grows up. But she fears her daily struggle for water will ultimately prevent her.
VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on how lack of safe water is threatening one girl's dream for the future.
Three times a week Tilalem and her mother Medhin fetch water from the closest source of water, a spring that flows down the mountain behind their village. It takes them more than an hour to walk there, leaving Tilalem – who has been helping her mother since she was nine – often too tired to attend school. Her grades are now slipping as a result.
There is little choice. “If we don’t get up early in the morning the water will get spoiled. People who live above here will wash in the water, polluting it,” explains Medhin. “When the sun is overbearing there are times when the spring dries up, then we are forced to use the rain-fed ponds. That water is not good.”
In Raya Azebo, access to a safe water supply is only 49 per cent, according to the district water office. And the Government definition of access means that a year-round improved water source exists within 1.5 km of the home, so even people with access to safe water face a long walk.
Raya Azebo also is a drought-prone district with limited sources of easily accessible water. “The most reliable year-round water sources in that district are deep wells. So providing access to a safe water supply often requires a significant amount of funding,” says UNICEF WASH Project Officer Leul Fisseha.
UNICEF, in partnership with the Regional Water Bureau, is working to improve access to safe water and sanitation. At the moment this means bringing in water by tanker but the aim is to install a deep well and water distribution system.
There has been a great deal of progress in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Ethiopia during the past five years, much of it achieved through joint partnership programmes between the Government and organizations such as UNICEF.
Much still remains to be done, however. According to Government figures, about 30 million Ethiopians – out of a total population of 82 million – still lack access to basic sanitation and safe and reliable drinking water.
