By Mohammad Ibrahim
Residents of some communities in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State in Nigeria have commended United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and its partners for providing them with a solar driven borehole and toilets in their schools.
The Water project was funded by Department for International Development (DFID) in partnership with Kaduna State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA). It was implemented by UNICEF, under its Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project.
“Our houses were dirty because women don’t have water to clean the kitchen utensils. 10- 20 people fall sick weekly but since we started drinking from the borehole the number drastically reduced,” said Village Head of Gora, Gambo Musa, adding that before the borehole was provided, their sources of water were wells and a river located about 3 kilometres away from the village.
Common illnesses in the village include diarrhoea, rashes and fever.
“Our lives have now improved since we stopped drinking from well and river. We need more solar borehole in the village because there are about 3000 people and 600 households in the village that depend on the only solar borehole,” he said.
Appreciating the provision of the toilets, he said it has curtailed the practice of open defecation in the community because, “virtually all houses in the village now have toilets”.
“We no longer defecate openly in bush, because majority of the houses in the village now have toilets,” he said.
WASHCOM Chairman in Gora Community of Kachia, Tijani Korama, said, the people are cooperating as they always take care of the environment.
“We sensitized people on hand washing and open defecation. We also carried out weekly sanitation in the village.
“Our people are co-operating with us which make our job easy. They don’t defecate openly as they used to in the past,” he said.
He also said that the project has really changed their lives for good.
Also speaking, a resident of Wawan Rafi village, Mr. Joseph said the project has changed their lives for the better.
According to him, the people of the village now have clean water to drink as a result of the borehole.
