The children at Karnel Sai village are no longer obliged to quit school for porting water
Though SCA has been operating in Afghanistan in different areas for 35 years in order to improve the lives of Afghans who mainly live in the rural areas, still people at the village level face various difficulties. Among others, lack of access to clean drinking water is the major problem. It’s worth mentioning that lack of access to safe drinking water in some of the highlands in Afghanistan has made the lives of the people difficult.
Karnel Sai is one of those villages located in the Sholgera district of Balkh province. People at this village used to carry water to their homes at the top of the hill using donkeys or water carrying poles for years.
Above all, carrying water and going through a long distance took hours and significantly made the lives of women and children more difficult than anyone else. This had caused the children to quit schooling and spend their times in carrying water.
“My son has many times been interrupted from going to school as he was engaged in carrying water. Some of the children have even been dropped out of schools due to their long absentees in their classes.” Says Salima, a female inhabitant of the village.
SCA has now resolved the problems of 300 families at Karnel Sai village by implementing WASH project and constructing a water tank with a capacity of reserving 58000ltr water.
“Before WASH project is implemented by SCA, the people of the village used to pass a distance of about 1km and carry water by donkey. This water was often contaminated with various infections leading to different diseases.” Said Fazel Ahmad, the community leader.
Since 2016, WASH project has launched digging and constructing 114 wells and 5 pipe schemes at 19 villages with an expense of 28 million AFN. The project is leaded and driven by the community development councils with 10% of the public shares which benefits 2833 families.