Andrea Svarstad has just finished field work at Nyenga. Below she shares some reflections that she wrote on march 22, the world’s water day. Quite sobering, knowing that Nyenga has relatively easy access to water.

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Hello, today is World Water Day!

This week I came home a little earlier than planned from field work in Uganda where I have looked at water safety in rural areas💧 Many people report long distances to obtain water. And several are reporting that there are too few water sources for a growing population. Another challenge is the quality of the water from the springs during the rainy season, while another informant pointed out that several health centers in the rural areas are struggling with access to water. It is quite confrontational when you get home and can take a glass of clean water straight from the tap.

Yesterday, the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Uganda. The authorities have been communicating around prevention for quite some time and are coming out with strong recommendations to prevent infection, but similar as as in Norway, hand washing is also here essential – and this becomes problematic when facing water challenges in many places.

Uganda is not alone though. Last year, WHO and UNICEF reported that, globally, 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 3 billion people lack basic hand-washing facilities at home. It just seemed so unfair.

Maybe you can use the world water day to get some info on water challenges in different places in the world? Or make a small donation to some of the water-focused organisations? If you think “yes, but where?” Then just examine some of these👇🏼
@water @un_water @unicefwater @kirkensnodhjelp @wateraid @waterforpeople @charitywater