SHI: Safe Drinking Water for 20,000 Rural Families

When I visited the community of Jerusalen in the municipality of Nueva Guinea, I was amazed to see almost the entire board of directors of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Committee (CAPS) be made up of women, with the exception of the president, who usually does not perform its function as he is usually focus on his personal duties. Instead, all of these women are in charge of managing and ensuring that the Jerusalem water system (Aqueduct) works and provides water to all families in the community effectively and with good quality. 

It was on June 28, 2022 when I met the women who make up the drinking water committee of this community, they represented each of the legal register positions that make up the CAPS such as: Secretary, Treasurer, Prosecutor, Member and the Plumber. On this occasion, the meeting with this CAPS, mostly represented by women, was to respond to a request from them to Self – Help International for the evaluation of their water system to achieve the installation of a chlorinator equipment in the near future in the water distribution tank, this way provide purified water to their families and members of their community, in addition to learn from training sessions the development of knowledge and skills to keep their water optimal for human consumption. 

On this occasion I want to refer to the work of Mrs. Tita, who currently holds the position of: “The Water Plumber woman”, as how the members of her Jerusalen community call her. 

Tita is a 49-year-old woman who has lived almost her entire life in the community of Jerusalen in the municipality of Nueva Guinea. She came to that community when she was only 4 years old. She has lived there for 45 years and has 3 male children who are 25, 22 and 15 years old, the youngest one is still studying in high school. 

Tita works as a plumber for her community in which she receives minimal financial support from the CAPS committee, and the rest of her duties as plumber are  voluntarily manner, to complement her family's livelihood she does simple sewing jobs from which she obtains some extra income and plus she along with her children work in the field planting grain and vegetable in a piece of land of her belongs. although Tita did not even complete the primary school, with the time pass on she has learned how to write down on her own, now, thanks to the training provided by the Clean Water Program Officer promoted by Self – Help International she learned how to keep records of the water consumption used by the people from her community. Tita told us that in each one of the training sessions she attends she have been learn several new things that helps her to improve her work, because she likes to learn and she continued saying that she does not care if what she is learning is something different from her gender, as she knows that it is somethign new and good for her own growth, since there are many people who are inhibited from growing. and she says that it is better to do a job, although hard but worthy to always support her family.

Tita continued saying that she has even learned how to use a computer that belongs to the CAPS committee and enter the data into it. She mainly uses an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the water consumption in cubic meters for each home that uses the water. She continues telling us that, although she does not have any position on the board, the Board members always call her to participate in meetings, and any other activities regarding the good management of the water where she attends it happily. She has had good and bad experiences while working as a plumber but she understands that it is part of her work and always tries to provide the best solution when needed. There are also users who have supported her for the work she does and understand her responsibility in which she feels really grateful to be recognized by the population. This way she continue motivated to work and support the CAPS directive, because she wants to always have water in her house and not have to carry water in buckets from the community well to her house, in addition to making sure that all of the people are receiving clean water and that it won´t harm the loved ones.  

She continues with her narrative saying: Since 2019, I have been performing the position of “plumber”, I am in charge of activating the operation of the pump and well to send water to the water tank distribution for the homes in the community. Even if it is at night or early morning, I have to fulfill this task. She smiles when she tells me this, because she says that she is also always doing the job of prosecutor, because the person in charge of this position is a new member and she need to learn all the process to be follow up reason why she is willing to support her, so in some way she is always supporting the members of the CAPS board and the only thing that matters to her is the well-being of the population in general. 

Tita is also in charge of checking the operation of the chlorinator and placing the chlorine tablets inside the chlorinator, as well as monitoring the use of the tablets to provide good quality drinking water to the population of the community. She always performs prosecutorial functions, evaluating what is right and refuting what is being done wrong. She also does plumbing and pipe repair work, installing and reading meters, as well as calculating water consumption per home. 

Tita always take care of the water distribution tank, she calls on the other women to clean and wash it in its inside, because of her concern is that the population does not get sick, so she works hard to maintain the storage concrete tank clean, washing it with bleach and scrubbing its internal walls to remove any dirt or sediment that it may have. To fill it and give the appropriate treatment to the water before being distributed to homes, she does this work frequently and she feels proud of collaborating so that the water in her community is of good quality. She also urges other women not to fear the change and learn things that are beneficial for them and their families. She thanks the Clean Water Program for the dedication to training and skill development that she has been putting into practice in her job duties as a plumber. 

Self – Help International is proud to share the growth and commitment of this woman who is dedicated to do jobs that were previously considered only for men. This woman is an example of self-improvement and self-learning in that community.