Personal Experiences

Photography: WaterAid/Katie Holt

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
Grace
62 years old, Bokola Village

Living in the same village for many years, a widowed mother of eight, Grace has experienced firsthand the devastating effects of not having clean water, and she has seen how it has affected the people around her. Like the rest of her community, Grace knows the river water they drink is not safe – she can see worms, insects and slime in the water – but they have no choice but to use it for drinking, bathing and cooking.

Getting sick often is a fact of life for Grace and others in her village and she has never really recovered from a bout of dysentery that kept her in hospital for days. Her illness has affected her ability to work – she now struggles to grow the vegetables she needs to feed her and to earn a living. She often goes to bed hungry and thirsty after not earning enough money to get food, and being too exhausted to walk for water.

Having safe water, close to home, could transform life for Grace. She says ‘If we get a borehole we will be free people! We’ll have good, clean water and be healthy to work and afford simple things like salt and soap.

’62 year old Grace is recovering from dysentery and is often too exhausted to walk to collect the dirty water she needs for drinking and cooking, meaning she goes to bed thirsty.

Having clean water available near home could change Grace’s life, improving her health and freeing her from the long, tiring walk for water.

Madeko
11 years old, Bokola Village

Eleven-year-old Madeko lives with his mother and three brothers and sisters in Bokola village. He loves English and Mathematics and wants to become a doctor when he finishes school.

He’s tired of seeing so many children suffering from diseases in his village and wants to help all those that are sick. He’s also suffered because of dirty water in his village; he regularly gets diarrhoea, stopping him from going to school and threatening his education.
Madeko collects water two or three times every day from the river. If there was clean water in his village, he would have more time to go to school, study or just play with his friends – things that other children take for granted. He wants a borehole in his village so that children don’t get sick and can continue going to school…

"My life would change if my community had clean water. Most of the time we are sick from the dirty water in the river and we don’t want to be sick anymore. We all water to be alive – water is life indeed.”

Dig Deep for people like Madeko and his community and help them get clean safe water for life.
Eleven year old Madeko wants to become a doctor so that he can help people in his community. Having safe water near home will mean that Madeko will no longer miss school because he is ill or spending time collecting water, bringing him closer to his dream.

 Mary
22 years old, mother of two

Mary, a mother of two girls, four-year-old Noria and one-year-old Faith, knows that the water they collect from the river is dirty but she has no choice but to give it to her children. There are many deaths from dysentery in the village and most are children. In the last two months four children have died and she fears for her own daughters, who are sick every couple of weeks.

Mary knows that clean safe water in her village will mean better health for her children. She also knows that this will mean less money spent on healthcare and more to spend on her family.

This week we’re digging deep for Malawi – so WaterAid can change the lives of more than 134,000 people.

Mother of two, 22-year-old Mary spends much of her small income on treatment for herself and her children as they are often sick from the water they drink. You can help Mary and her family have a better life, by helping them get clean, safe water.

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