Walking for Hours, Missing Out on School
By: Mariska Meldrum
How having access to clean, safe water changed Kikama’s whole future.
Eleven-year-old Kikama lives in a remote village in Longido, Tanzania. She is bright, full of life, and dreams of one day becoming a doctor so she can help people suffering from sickness and disease. But from the young age of seven, Kikama’s dreams were sidelined by a heavy jerrycan.
Instead of sitting in a classroom, Kikama’s days were consumed by walking for hours along rocky paths to collect water from the forest for her family. To make matters worse, the only water she found was shared with wild animals and contaminated with bacteria and parasites.
“The water that we were going to collect in the forest was not safe to drink because wild animals were drinking the same water, the livestock were drinking the same water, at the same place. People were bathing there, washing right there. So the water was not clean,” she recalls.
The unsafe water meant Kikama constantly missed school, and watched her friends and family repeatedly fall ill. Even when food was available, the dirty water robbed children’s bodies of critical nutrients, threatening their health and stalling precious potential.
“It led to diseases like cholera, dysentery, and people were getting sick because of that water. It was not clean at all,” she says tearfully.
The Day Kikama’s Life Changed
Kikama’s life changed when Convoy of Hope came to her community. Partnering with local leadership and experts, Convoy started with drilling boreholes and setting up water pumps, towers, pipelines, and taps – bringing a reliable source of safe water right to Kikama’s school in the heart of the community.
Image: Kikama and friends using the new hand-washing station at school.
With fresh water available at school, everything transformed. Convoy provided agricultural training for local farmers – and helped set up a flourishing vegetable garden and tomato greenhouses at the school. It provides healthy food for school lunches, and also generates income that will help the community maintain the water pumps for years to come.
Kikama no longer has to choose between an education and survival. Today, she can pour her energy into studying to become a doctor. As she joyfully puts it: “Everything is going so, so well after getting water.”
“Our life has changed a lot after getting water at school… we are getting water for cooking, at school we’re getting food. We’re getting water for washing our clothes, for cleaning, doing all the hygienic activities at school.”
Image: Children Washing Produce Grown with Water.
With water, Kikama’s school now grows fresh vegetables and tomatoes which helps her and her friends stay healthy.
You Can Give a Child Safe Water
Joel A’Bell, National Director of Convoy of Hope Australia and New Zealand, says that access to safe water does so much more than quench thirst. It shatters the cycle of poverty and unlocks health, dignity, and opportunity for entire villages.
“The harsh reality is that 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water. For young girls like Kikama, this crisis turns daily life into a struggle and stops them from attending school,” he explains.
Through a simple act of generosity, you can help transform the life of a child like Kikama.
Every dollar multiplies hope, one drop at a time:
You can give a child like Kikama a life-giving gift of safe water here.
*Statistic provided by the World Health Organisation.
Article supplied with thanks to Convoy of Hope
Mariska Meldrum, Water for Life Day Campaign Manager
Feature image: Supplied
