Water - the gift of life - for children in Darfur

Every family needs to have a way to carry water to and from the water pumps in their villages, or from a source far away in a village that does not have a pump.  There are no pipes to villages, or faucets, even standing pipes.   Water is often many miles away across the desert.  But for some families things have got worse.  We are sad to say that 2018 is the first year we have ever known that families have been sharing the use of a jerry can to fetch water. Halima from Um Jum Jum, a village we adopted this year, has been sharing her neighbour’s jerry can because hers had cracked some time ago. There are many women doing the same - no one has enough to drink.  Sharing a jerry can means sharing the precious water you have walked miles across the desert to collect – the only water your family will have that day.  How could you part with it?

We need your help more than ever to build a new handpump!  It is so important that we keep moving forward, bringing clean water handpumps close to more of our villages. And Jerry cans are always needed, whether water is nearby or far away, and every family needs three or four.  We must bring handpumps as close to villages as possible for the safety of communities.    It is not just their parents who walk for water, it's the children too.  This means they cannot go to school.  When we install a handpump near a village, every little boy and girl can go to school every day - and education gives them a chance to improve their lives as they get older.

So, right now we need more jerry cans for clean water for each and every family, and money for our water fund so we can drill for more handpumps.  It is a problem that together, we can solve today.   Together, we can build clean water pumps that make the journey safer and shorter. 

Might you pause for a moment and think what your life would be like if you had to share a can of water - your only water -  with your neighbours?  What can you do today to help us change that reality for the families of Darfur?

Thank you for everything you have done so far, but we need your help a bit more please?

Three new handpumps have been completed in Kids for Kids villages! Deshma and Hillat Adam Bakhit villages, adopted in 2015, each have a new handpump, as well as Um Keddada village, adopted in 2016. You will know that building handpumps requires a lot of time and is very difficult, even though there is an aquifer (water reservoir) under Darfur. We have a wonderful arrangement with the State Water Corporation (WES) in Darfur that they will re-drill if they do not initially hit ground water that is suitable for building a clean water handpump. Sometimes there is water, but it is not fit for human consumption.  In some villages WES has re-drilled three to four times.   This is a costly exercise and we are very grateful to them for helping in this way.  The WES are committed to providing a handpump as close to a village as possible, and these three new handpumps are within the villages themselves.

Before we build a clean water handpump the community must form a Water Committee, chosen through democratic election, whose job it will be to supervise the pumps, construct and maintain the fence and trough, keep the pumps in a hygienic condition, and carry out any repairs that may be needed. Now that these three pumps have been built, the committee, with ongoing help from the community, is responsible for ensuring their success.   Kids for Kids philosophy is to help people to help themselves.

In our last report we mentioned there was drought in Darfur and the previous harvest had failed. Well we are pleased to tell you that the rains have finally arrived in almost every Kids for Kids village, and people are planting.  However, these coming months will be the worst yet: known as the ‘hungry months’.   The rain has started, grass is beginning to grow, sparse as yet, and people are working the land, but it will be months before there is food to eat.  The problems facing families in Darfur are unimaginable – but we can do something. 

With your help we have built over 80 clean water handpumps, which is incredible. These are providing drinkable water for both people and animals - but we must build more. We need funds as soon as possible so we can provide handpumps for our 5 new villages. Can you please make our work known to your friends, colleagues, schools, and community groups and get them involved in raising funds to give children clean, drinkable water? We are such a small charity effecting huge change, but we need your help in moving people to hold Bake Sales, Walks for Water, and any other small fundraisers! Every penny makes a difference - and anyone can help!