Turning Crisis into Hope

"Finally, we have safe water nearby; it is like a dream to us," says Elaf from Abu Hasheem, situated 30 kilometers north of Damazine, the capital city of Blue Nile state in Sudan. Elaf (22) reminisces about how she used to walk 5 km with her brother in the scorching sun to fetch water. Some days, she would not get the water as all the surrounding communities depended on one source.  

World Vision's rehabilitation of Abu Hasheem water station, with support from UNICEF, in the Blue Nile region after it had been out of service for two years, relieved Elaf and her community.

Abu Hasheem has recently witnessed an influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Khartoum, Gezira, and Sennar, which poses a high-water demand. Different regions of Sudan have seen many displacements since the conflict started in the country on 15 April 2023. With a population of 7,600, an additional 2,100 IDPs have arrived in Abu Hasheem over the last two years, creating a serious water challenge due to the lack of water sources.

"We used to walk for one hour to get to the water point; now it takes me three minutes to get there," Elaf says. 

Additionally, Elaf acknowledges that the water supply was not enough until the rehabilitation of the water station. "I could go once daily to get water, but it was not enough. It was hard for us. Now I can get water whenever I need it," says the elated Elaf.

20-year-old Anwar Balla agrees with Elaf that having a water source close to the house makes life easier.

 "Now we can get enough safe water for household use and productively use our time rather than spending a greater part of the day looking for water," she adds.

Nadir Musa, World Vision Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Engineer, highlighted that the intervention focused on equipping the station with a new pump, rehabilitating the water tank, rebuilding the fence around the station, and establishing a distribution point.

"World Vision also trained the members of the local WASH committee on how to maintain the water station and provide the committee with maintenance kits," says Musa.

 Over the past year, World Vision has provided 423,912 people with clean water in Blue Nile, East Darfur, and South Darfur states in Sudan.