Community Solidarity 

In the Tillaberi region of Niger, 40 year old Gambi Kailou lives with her seven children. For her, “The main difficulties are food and water problems. We have only a well for this village and it gets filled with sand and dirty running water during the rainy season because it was dug in a seasonal river. Hence during the rainy season we have to find water from neighbouring villages where it takes up to two and half hours to get just a little amount”.

When asked how the villagers cope during such times, Gambi replies, “We rely on community solidarity - it happens where those who have enough water can help those in short supply. My daily need was 5 buckets but this was due to distance and availability as there was a crowd waiting to collect their water. Sometimes I might not get more than 2 buckets. I then ask my neighbour to assist me with more water”.

Islamic Relief started its operations in the Tillaberi region – during the Niger food crisis in 2005 and has since sought to continue its work by focusing on water and sanitation. In the region, more than 40% of the population don’t have access to clean drinking water and as for sanitation, only 5% of the region’s needs are covered.

The Water and Environmental Sanitation Improvement Project was designed to increase access to potable water through the creation of wells and latrines and through setting up and training Water and Sanitation Management committees. The project benefits over 72,000 people.

One of those is Gambi. “This well constructed by Islamic Relief will solve all of our water problems because of its closeness [to the village] and I will have more time to use for my daily activities and I think I’ll even be able to do some gardening through the use of the water”.

“Only Allah can reward Islamic Relief and those spending their money on poor people like me. I’m thankful to them all.”