A Year Later: Taking Pride in Personal Hygiene

Before we protected Aburil Spring in Shianda Community, community members struggled with water-related diseases and long lines at the spring.

"I personally could wake up very early in the morning to fetch water to avoid long lines of people at the water point," said 53-year-old animal farmer Jared Tala. "This was the only source that served the entire community. Even people from [the] market could come to fetch water [here], and this contributed to time wasting."

According to community members, the wet seasons were the worst time of year, when the entire spring would flood with dirty surface water. This also exacerbated people's difficulty in getting the water into their containers.

"During [the] rainy season, [the] water could overflow, causing contamination," Jared explained. "The point was full of water, hence fetching water was a big challenge, especially for children [who] could not access water easily. The entire area was not protected, allowing animals to access [it], which also contaminated the water. We had no stairs to access the source, which [made it] difficult for older people to collect water."

But now, with the water protected and the stairs granting easier access, all this has changed.

"This is a great new chapter in life, which has changed my life," Jared said. "[I] am really proud that I can take a bath twice a day [and] drink clean water. [I] am getting high production from [my] animals through drinking clean water. The entire hygiene standards have been improved, thus [we have] minimal health issues. This has given me enough time for working and ensuring my family gets [their] daily bread. My focus is to maintain high standards of hygiene within the community."