For twenty years the village of Demiraj was without a clean water supply. The nearest
access was a reservoir three kilometres away or a drive to the town of Koplik. Most
families would have to make do with wells in their gardens where the water was often
dirty.
All this changed when Islamic Relief provided the village of Demiraj with five water
points spread across the village which now serve five hundred villagers with freshwater
from the mountains.
For mother of five, Lumturie Demiraj, 38, it means she can now give her children
freshwater without any fear of disease.
“Life was very difficult before the water supply. We used to live on water from
the wells. Now the water is clean, it is some of the best water in Albania.
“For years villagers would approach local leaders to try to get them to supply clean
water to the village but to no avail.
“We used to request clean water before but the commune had no budget so we are very
grateful to Islamic Relief,” said Lumturie.
He added: “Everybody in the village uses the clean water for cooking. All the members
of the village were gathered and we discussed where the watering points should be
placed.”
Watering points were then built with pipes coming direct from the reservoir. Villagers
also helped to make the water points and reduced their normal rates of pay to work
on the project.
Islamic Relief is now hoping to extend the piping from the watering points to supply
clean water to nearby villages.
Find out more about Islamic Relief's
Water and Sanitation projects
Find out more about Islamic Relief in
Albania
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