By William Madouk
As an old saying, that “Water is life”, meaning, without water, there will be no life in the face of the universe, but for Wulu County, the daily struggle has come to an end.
In the past, Women and girls in Wulu county bore the brunt of scarcity, spending countless hours trekking long distances to fetch water from far sources.
However, under the Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) project the Oxfam in South Sudan through support from Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung) a 45,000-liter solar-powered water facility was installed to address a decade-long water struggle for this community.
Elizabeth Mamoyu, 28, a mother of 5 children told No.1 Citizen Newspaper that residents normally fetch unclean water for domestic use, like cooking, bathing, and washing clothes.
“It normally takes an hour to walk to a nearby borehole but when there is a long queue there is no possibility of coming back soon – sometimes you reach home late at 5 PM,” Mrs. Mamoyu narrated.
“There are sometimes when my children sleep on empty stomachs or without bathing due to distance and delay when fetching water – when you arrive and start cooking children are already asleep,” she added.
Inhabitants are now excited after they received a solar-powered water pump that now serves a population of 594 households.
Mrs. Mmoyu cited that “things have now changed, I can do other errands or house chores, still go fetch water and cook my food early because the water facility is now very near to my home.”
With water at their fingertips – Mrs. Rebbeca Nyoli instantly embarks on vegetable plantation.
“I started my vegetable farm when this water yard was commissioned, I decided to start farm here because of the availability of water which makes it easy to water my garden,” Nyoli explained.
“I really do benefit from these vegetables, I use it for home consumption and take some to the market,” she added.
To Nyoli, the improvement is that “the community is now having clean drinking water.”
“Secondly, it was hard to establish a vegetable garden because of water. This garden alone is challenging to grow anything if you do not water it, but now that we have water and we are able to open more vegetable gardens,” Tyoli said.
She noted that people fight in trying to get access to this vital commodity “there was a recurring fight over water, when people go to water point there is a competition over who want to be first leading to a fight.”
Mrs. revealed that she can now earn SSP 20,000 compared to SSP 5,000 from vegetable sales.
Meanwhile, Gideon Kelele, the chair Domoloto water management committee explained that the solar-powered water facility was founded in March 2024 to ease the burden of local community.
“Oxfam South Sudan has constructed for us this water facility to assist communities in Domoloto Payam of Wulu County
“This solarized water facility is easy to fetch, it is quite different from boreholes where you are required to use energy – jumping up to pump water, thus with this water you just press, and water flows,” he said.
Mr. Kelele said the water is free, but they only charge household SSP 1500 for maintenance or any emergencies that might arise.
“Each household contributes SSP 1500, and the money is meant for maintenance. And residents are allowed to take as much water as they can, there is no limitation – you can fill even ten drums,” he added.
According to the the water management committee, the facility opens in the morning and operates until 6 PM paving the way for people to collect enough water over the course of the day.
“I would like to congratulate Oxfam in South Sudan for a job well done, someone who gives you water is like God who created the universe because water is very important in our life,” he stated.
Kelele, chair of the water management committee – said they work as volunteers in a committee and their work usually is to oversee the operation and clean the compound.
Oxfam with funding from Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung or BMZ is supporting farmers with seeds and other agricultural tools as a form of value addition under the project Building Resilience of Crisis-affected communities in Jonglei and Lake State.
The BMZ project aims to build resilience in targeted crisis-affected communities by improving food security, income, and basic infrastructure as well as effective management of risks and shocks. This will in turn foster inclusive and peaceful societies in Jonglei State (Akobo and Nyirol counties) and Lake State, Wulu County. The project has so far benefited 45,705 People, 21,938 male, 23,767 female, and 2285 people living with disabilities.
Oxfam is leading the overall project implementation and coordination, explicitly implementing and engaging in the three outcomes (food security and livelihood, WASH & good governance). The partner is engaging in food security & livelihood, and good governance outcomes.
Fifty-nine percent of the population in South Sudan lacks access to safe water, according to the children’s agency – UNICEF.
To survive, families may be forced to drink dirty water, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea, which remain the leading causes of death among children in South Sudan.
The agency added that the situation is further aggravated by poor hygiene practices. Just 10 percent of the population has access to improved sanitation.
To survive, families may be forced to drink dirty water, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea, which remain the leading causes of death among children in South Sudan.
The agency said the situation is further aggravated by poor hygiene practices. Just 10 percent of the population has access to improved sanitation.