Having Water ‘Is Like a Dream’ in Rwanda

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By Mary Richards, Church News

Alphonse Mategero and his wife and children used to wake up early in the morning to walk one and a half hours to fetch water.

The trip to the water source was downhill, but returning uphill to their home was exhausting as they carried heavy jerry cans full of water.

Many families living in Gicumbi District of Rwanda spend hours every day walking for water.

Peter, whose last name was not given, walks with his family to an unprotected spring every time they collect water.

“We wake up in the morning around four o’clock, because the first thing we do as the whole family is collect water,” Peter said. “We have to use flashlights so that we can see the way.”

But if they get a late start, the line of people at the spring is longer, and the children are then late for school. Mategero said if children come home too exhausted from their water chore, they choose to miss classes instead.

Peter’s youngest daughter Priscilla started carrying a smaller container at age 4 so she would get used to the daily chore as she grows up.

“My children have not really had the time to play and simply be children,” Peter said.

A lack of safe water in their community also makes his family sick with water-related illnesses like diarrhea. Peter also loses valuable time he could be working on the family’s dairy farm to earn more income.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Water for People are working with the government of Rwanda to install water systems for tens of thousands of people in Gicumbi District.

Water For People is a global nonprofit working around the world to equip communities with lasting access to clean water and sanitation services.

The Church of Jesus Christ and Water For People began working together in 2014 to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services across nine countries. Significant financial assistance and visibility for Water for People have also come through Giving Machines in the U.S.

Workers have constructed new or rehabilitated piped systems in communities with multiple taps. In schools and clinics, they add or rehabilitate water systems, install rainwater harvesting systems, handwashing stations, and private, accessible sanitation facilities.

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Because of this ambitious program, residents of Mategero’s village now have safe water a few minutes from their homes.

“Our dreams became true when water began flowing out of the taps near our homes for the first time,” he said.

Mategero’s children can focus on school, and his family is healthy. Fellow community members no longer spend hours looking for water, and they do not have to pay as much, either.

Mategero manages one of the many water points installed to serve the community. He works hard to ensure everyone can access water when they need it and is guaranteeing the long-term sustainability of the water service through proper maintenance and tariff collections.

“I feel very proud to serve my village,” he said. “This money helps me pay for my family’s subscription to the community health insurance, school fees for my children, and it ensures that I can meet my family’s needs without any difficulties.”

Peter has spent 50 years walking for water every day. But when the water system is completed in his village, his children could be part of a new generation that is spared from the long, daily walk for water.

“When I think of having water, it is like a dream,” Peter said.