Clean Water – And its Benefits for Women’s Health!

Women Spend Hours Fetching Contaminated Water.

One of our most precious commodities is “time”!

From the moment we arise to the moment we lay our head on the pillow, we operate in the reality that within these hours that we are awake, we must strive to make the best use of our time. We create schedules, routines, and deadlines to assist in keeping us on track. We choose convenience for the desire to maximize our time. Our time is an investment, and because it is so valuable, we prioritize how we spend it for our work, play, friendships, and families.

For the woman in sub-Saharan Africa, her time is valuable too, yet her choices are few. From the moment she wakes up, she faces the task of survival. She allocates time for this very purpose because she must fetch water for food, bathing, and most importantly, drinking. Her awakening moment begins early in the morning, right before the sun emerges. She breathes in the crisp early morning air, plants her feet on the dry, dusty ground, and begins to walk. As her feet touch the ground, she takes deep breaths little by little and prepares for the journey that lies ahead. This journey is long, and it takes hours to complete. This one task takes a significant amount of her time.

It is an interesting concept; without an in-depth knowledge of the water crisis, time and water seem unrelated, yet clean water dramatically impacts a woman’s time. The hours a woman spends fetching clean water limits her time to create income and have personal care. Clean water gives a woman choices to decide how to spend the time she is gaining. With a well only a short distance away, she has time for self-care and can prioritize her health and hygiene through Generosity Women’s health and hygiene program. The transformation that occurs when a woman has choices to take care of her body and health is life-changing. The options of how she will spend her time will determine the direction of her future!

Time truly is invaluable! It is intangible; an illusion that we cannot touch or see, yet it dictates our day-to-day tasks. Time allows growth, healing, celebrating, working, learning, sleeping, playing, and so much more. Time transcends all boundaries; it cannot be controlled, yet it needs to be managed. How we choose to spend our time determines the quality of our life. YOU can make that difference! Give the gift of time to women in rural Africa, a commodity not everyone is blessed to have.

Have you ever wondered how it feels to spend your days dirty, sweaty, and thirsty?

The journey of fetching clean water begins very early in the morning for women and young children responsible for this task. The rivers and streams from their homes are about four to six miles, taking away a woman’s time and most of her day. When she returns home, she is depleted and may have just enough water to cook and for her children. Bathing and taking care of her own hygienic needs comes secondary, which leads to a significant lack of personal hygiene.

This us where FWEF plays a part together with it’s volunteers and members.

DID YOU KNOW:

WATER:

Globally 69% of schools have a basic drinking water service.

In 1 in 4 primary schools there is no drinking water service. Worse, that number drops to 1 in 6 at the secondary school level.

Overall, nearly 600 million children lack a basic drinking water service at their school in 2016, and less than half the schools in Oceania and only two thirds of schools in Central and South Asia have a basic drinking water service.

TOILETS:

Globally only 66 per cent of schools had a basic sanitation service in 2016.

1 in 5 primary schools have no sanitation service as well as 1 in 8 secondary schools.

One third of schools in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania have no sanitation service. In most countries where data is available, less than 50 per cent of schools have toilets accessible to students with limited mobility.

Globally, 600 million children do not have a basic sanitation service at school.

HANDWASHING:

Nearly 900 million children worldwide lacked a basic hygiene service at their school.

1 in 3 primary schools have no hygiene service and over a quarter of secondary schools have no hygiene service.

Over one third of schools worldwide and half of schools in the least developed countries have no hygiene service.

UNICEF has WASH in Schools programmes in more than 90 countries and reaches an average 3 million children a year

HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THESE PEOPLE’S DAILY LIVES!