Reference :
V-P-AF-E-01958
Date :
2012
Caption :
Parwan Province, Deh Bala village.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
reserved users only
Description :
Deh Bala, one of many villages across Afghanistan with no access to clean water:
Deh Bala (which means the 'village up-high') is like many villages across Afghanistan, it has had no access to clean, drinkable water. But unlike many villages one of their dreams is being realised. Half-way up the rocky mountainside over two-kilometres of pipe are bringing uncontaminated water from a mountain spring to a cement and stone water tank. From the tank, trenches are being dug manually and a pipe stands ready to be laid so that standpipes can service the village. Here more than 2100 people will benefit from pure water, and in total more than 5000 people stand to gain from the know-how and the US$20,000 ICRC has invested in the project.It's rare in Afghanistan that everyone is unanimous, but in Deh Bala girls, boys and men have beaming smiles, they are proud of their water tank, and are grateful to the ICRC for its part in help in bringing clean, accessible water to the village. Hoja Agha tells me, "Water is our biggest problem: we need our health first and foremost. If we have [clean] water we have everything'. A quick survey of raised hands reveals that every child has suffered serious stomach pains and diarrhea. However, the water tank is so new, that most of the children are not in the habit of collecting pure water from the rubber pipe that will eventually be buried alongside the village's single dirt track and connected to a series of standpipes. The children, rather than walk up the steep, rocky mountainside continue to drink from the irrigation canals which have been contaminated up stream by villagers and animals who have washed and urinated in it.Bashir, ICRC's engineer, who is running this water and sanitation project explains the difference clean water can make to the lives of similar villages, "There are no clinics, no doctors and no shops [pharmacies]. So protecting a natural source rather than letting people drink directly from open water channels, immediately alters their standard and quality of life".
Author: Nick Danziger
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
4032x3024
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
