Fatima is a sixteen-year-old amputee among thousands of children
and women who struggle for water in Karaga district in the Northern Region of
Ghana.
They walk each day to collect water for cooking, drinking,
washing and watering their farm products each and every day, especially in the
dry season.
However, a dire lack of facilities in both informal
settlements and rural communities alike mean that the poor living in many areas
in Northern Region face similar water and sanitation challenges, particularly
related to accessibility and safety.
“Women and girls walk on average 6 kilometres to fetch water
from Dams, rivers, streams and unprotected springs that are often known to be
unsafe for consumption.
These photographs taken at the karaga and Gushiegu dam illustrate
how, in many communities in Northern Region people, especially women and
children struggle daily to provide water for themselves and their families.
Whiles animals also feed on the same source of water on the
other side of the dam as shown in the photograph.
Miss Abby Awuni, a resident in Karaga said, families have no
choice than to rely on this source of water for years now, despite report of
water borne diseases.
We hope these photographs will help stimulate discussions on
the plight of people especially in rural communities who cannot simply turn a
tap and access clean, safe drinking water.
As the world celebrates Water Day, taking action to tackle
water crisis, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water
supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant
sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.
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