Darfur women talk about water

I spoke with many women in West Darfur, in the areas of Azerni, Sanidadi, and Um Tajok about water. While water points have been installed by aid companies, there are not enough. They are not in reach of all women in the surrounding communities who walk up to an hour to fetch water in jericans. The queues are often long and the waiting time can be up to an hour. If they time it right, they can fill up their two jericans in five minutes if there's no queue. It's not the walking and the queue they mind so much, but they fear conflict and the toll it takes on their children who need to be fed and washed.

Often the hand pumps are broken and it can take three weeks to fix, so they have to travel further for water in the meantime. Men from the village have been trained to fix the pumps but the parts can't be purchased in their markets, so they need to travel to El Geneina or to a larger market.

For a small family, the women need about 6 jericans a day. For a larger family, they need 11-12 jericans a day. What women want and need is continuous safe water in a location near their community.

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