Feature:Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

Last summer, the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history swept a path of destruction from north to south, submerging one-fifth of the country and affecting more than 20 million people. For hundreds of thousands of flood-hit families, the basics in life, like access to clean drinking water, hygienic washing or toilet facilities, became a luxury.
Haleema explained, ‘We were victims of the flood devastation on the one hand and, on the other, we were hit by diseases. My whole family of seven was suffering from diarrhea, skin allergies and eye infections.
10-year old Taimoor’s family was also pushed out of their home as water levels rose in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, north Pakistan. ‘The calamity swallowed our house and everything we had. The first night we slept on the road. My pillow was wet and full of water, but I had to use it as there was nothing left to use,’ recalls Taimoor.

We were victims of the flood devastation on the one hand and, on the other, we were hit by diseases. My whole family of seven was suffering from diarrhea, skin allergies and eye infections. After the floods, aid agency World Vision responded immediately providing an estimated 1.5 million people with shelter, hygiene kits, clean drinking water, food, tablets for purifying water and other essentials across three of Pakistan’s four provinces.
Soon after last year’s floods, World Vision’s water, sanitation and health (WASH) committees also selected communal places to install hand pumps on raised platforms - so sources of drinking water would remain safe from contaminated when future flooding hits. Before the 2010 floods, every village household used to own a hand pumps or open wells which provide families with easy access to clean drinking water, but the floods contaminated all water sources causing a severe threat of illness, infection and water-borne diseases.
Taimoor remembers trying to find clean water, in the days after the flooding hit. ‘Our hand pump was destroyed and my younger siblings were crying for drinking water. Me and my father set out by foot to Pabbi to bring water. The journey back home was agonizing, walking through slushy mud and debris -my hands got bruised due to the load and my feet got tired due to the distance.’
In the days and the weeks after the floods, Taimoor, and other flood-affected children, walked mile upon mile to fetch clean water for her family’s daily needs – washing, cooking, bathing. ‘All my class fellows went to school but I had to go to bring water every morning,’ she said.
Before the 2010 floods, every village household used to own a hand pumps or open wells which provide families with easy access to clean drinking water, but the floods contaminated all water sources causing a severe threat of illness, infection and water-borne diseases So far, World Vision have supported the instillation of 65 new water pumps throughout 14 villages in Charsadda and Nowshera districts, KPK. 3,250 families, like Tiamoor’s, now have access to potable drinking water and, more importantly, children can return to their schooling.
‘Our WASH activities in the area are vitally important, not only returning communities a service but saving the futures of their children,’ said Rabia Jabeen, one of World Vision’s community hygiene promoters.
Taimoor agrees, ‘Now with the installation of the hand pump I am the one who is benefitting most as I can go to school regularly with my class fellows. And now my dream to become a doctor will become true, I will treat patients and help my community.’
World Vision has helped establish more than 180 water-management committees, giving communities responsibility for their own water and sanitation. Ultimately, the WASH programme will reach 70,000 people in more than 40 villages.
Although the humanitarian crisis is over, and this year’s flooding has not affected KPK to the same extent, for the majority of those whose lives were swept away there is still a long way to go and need the urgent and ongoing support of the international community if they are ever to get back to what life was like before the devastation of last year.
CIDA FUNDED WASH PROJECTS KPK, PUNJAB (CANO 0076).
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