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It's been a journey..

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During the time period I spent writing this blog, 3600 minutes have been spent by one women alone in Sub-Saharan Africa collecting water. This equates to 2.5 full days. If multiplied by the approximately 16.9 million women and young girls all over the sub-continent, the figure reaches 507 million minutes spent in water collection. I can't help but wonder how substantial of an effect this would have had on my productivity if I were to do the same, let alone imagine how much every women or girl could have achieved in that same amount of precious time- whether it be in education or formal employment.  In this blog series I covered a range of issues women disproportionately face as a result of inadequate water access, from prolonged water collection duties, to shortages in community engagement and difficulties in maintaining menstrual health. In doing so, I explored these cases under the lens of different nations such as Tanzania, Cameroon and Ghana. Of the topics covered, however, the...
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Water, Women and the Virus

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As we currently live amidst the global Coronavirus pandemic, the need for safety and hygiene is immensely vital to control the spread of the disease. We have continuously heard the words uttered: 'wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds'. But what do you do if you have inadequate access to clean running water and sanitation facilities to enable you to maintain a virus-safe environment? This, unfortunately, has been the harsh reality for many African nations as COVID-19 hit them with unprecedented challenges surrounding water. However, the outbreak has especially affected women. As almost 80% of women in the African continent play a major role in water provision for many rural households, the impacts of the virus have deepened their burden of collecting water whilst adversely putting them at risk of infection. A report by UNWomen offers insights into the added impacts of the virus on water facilities and women, as well as potential interventions go...
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Worth Bleeding For: Part 2

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Before I continue this second part of the Worth Bleeding For series, I'm guessing you're wondering, where does this title come from? On May 28th every year, the world commemorates a Menstrual Hygiene Day to call for an end to the stigma around menstruation in societies and cultures all over the globe.  But as many nations come together to raise awareness of normalising conversations, some individual campaigns have taken more drastic approaches to help overcome the nightmares of period poverty, urging for the distribution of free menstrual products to revive school absences. The  #worthbleedingfor campaign in South Africa, which kicked off in Johannesburg aims to make pads either affordable or completely free for women, as they believe access to sanitary products and adequate sanitation is a basic right as opposed to a luxury. A summary of the campaign is outlined below:                               ...
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Worth bleeding for: Part 1

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Following from my previous post on the DWSS master-plan project in Cameroon to drastically improve rural access to safe water, another parallel major aim was targeted towards sanitation. The project seeks to increase sanitation access rates from 15% to 60%, with plans to service almost 750,000 rural inhabitants. However, whilst DWSS is focused on rural communities, urban sanitation in Cameroon still stands at 17%. This ultimately sheds light on the large development gap in sanitation despite greater infrastructural progress in Cameroon. In fact, access to sanitation regressed from 1990 through to 2008 and thus not meeting the sanitation Millennium Development Goal. This may be explained as Cameroon's infrastructure, like in many African urban areas face the challenges of meeting vastly expanding populations ( Davis, 2006 ). Hence, due to ill-equipped water infrastructure of maintenance and rehabilitation, sewage systems remain blocked, leading to the reliance on traditional slab/...
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Women and Water Management: Case study of Cameroon

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  Welcome back! As I've highlighted through previous posts, safe water access presents a massive challenge shaped both by physical and human landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa. But today, let's magnify the human factor of water management, particularly community water management projects taking place. This blog post will delve into the Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Project (DWSS) designed to cover four regions in Cameroon: the West, North West, South West and Southern areas. In doing so, gender connotations specifically embedded into this project will be explored to assess the project's achievement, signalling the growing concern and need for women participation in safe water distribution and sanitation improvements.  Communities or Authorities?   Community water schemes have long operated to provide water infrastructure and services for rural populations in Cameroon. In previous decades, Cameroon underwent historical protest and campaigning events to rule out ...
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Water from the grave

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Before I started writing my next post on community projects, a very recent BBC news article struck me with the headline: 'Zimbabwe community gets water from a cemetery'.  Immediately drawn to this news story, I kindly request your short attention to the following snippets covering the current situation among the residents in Hopley, Zimbabwe. The community of Hopley's experience tells the complex story of the multidimensional factors involved in Zimbabwe's water crisis. From drying bore holes to failed piped water installations for a decade, Hopley suffers mainly along the physical, but also increasingly human interface, similar to Tanzania's case described earlier.  Unfortunately, as the residents continuously seek out to wells on decomposing cemetery sites as a result, the future looks unpromising.  Rainfall in the region is not only projected to reduce further by almost 20% , but the rather brief account of plans for community pipelines underway don't seem t...
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But first, water scarcity

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  Following from my introduction on the gender disparities of water in Africa, I want to use this second post to illuminate the various ways in which Africa encounters water scarcity. As I was recently drawn to the compelling letter a young Tanzanian girl, Eva , wrote to former President Barrack Obama in January 2015, I will delve into the case study of Tanzania to further highlight the difficulties of safe water provision and extraction. Water inaccessibility in Africa greatly enhances and reinforces deep inequalities in regards to gender divides, which may only be exacerbated by climate change. It is, therefore, crucial to understand both the interactions of human and physical landscapes on multiple scales, where it be urban and rural. In doing so, a critical approach is required in examining why countries and regions are termed as water scarce, in order to foster future water projects as adaptation strategies in changing landscapes for rural and urban communities.  Before s...
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