UNICEF drills borehole to combat Guinea worm
By Swangin Bismarck*
Nov 25, 2005 (KARAGOK Village, Rumbek) — Until October 16, 2005; the only water point in Karagok village in Rumbek Central County was a muddy pool over which both human beings and animals competed alike.
The pool being the only water point providing drinking water to hundreds of people also combined as a “swimming pool” for both humans and other aquatic life.
The result of using the contaminated water pool was the outbreak of the deadly Guinea worm, a disease contracted when a person consumes stagnant water contaminated with microscopic fleas carrying infective larvae.
Once infected, a person has to painfully bear the agony until the worm emerges through a blister in the skin.
The residents of this village have endured years of suffering perpetuated by the ?fiery serpent’ as the disease has been termed; little did they know that the contaminated pool water was the source.
The installation of a borehole in Karagok by UNICEF on 16, October, 2005 is a “God sent rescue”, as one woman speaking through a translator put it.
Access to safe water is an incentive to life and here in Karagok life now looks quite predictable compared to the uncertainty of the past.
Without safe water and sanitation sustainable development will remain a nightmare.
Water borne diseases will continuously take their toll on people’s lives, children will stay out of school and the women who shoulder much of the domestic work will spent much of their time in search for water, often miles away from home.
For communities such as the one in Karagok who have for long been tormented by the debilitating and gruesome Guinea worm disease, the installation of a safe water point is a source of hope to particularly the women and children who spend hours fetching water.
The children couldn’t hide their excitement as they happily giggle in celebration of
the arrival of what they had long forgotten-safe water.
Rebecca Chol, a middle aged woman speaking through a translator said, “We thank UNICEF for this borehole. We will care for it as our property”
Hygiene and sanitation awareness sessions, combined with capacity building of the water source local management committees are considered a holistic approach to head off water related problems.
The safe water point, residents say, will act as a pull factor to returnees.
Many returnees may either choose to settle where they can access safe drinking water or ?rest’ for several days in their long distance trek to their destinations.
Fears are that the available resources may be over stretched with the movement of people returning home en masse’
The community in Karagok, in a move to ensure orderly access to safe water and sustaining the borehole, is now working on bi-laws which will also serve as orientation blue prints for new arrivals.
Water which is key to a healthy population is among UNICEF’s priorities in the reconstruction plan of the war ravaged southern Sudan.
UNICEF’s Water and Environmental Sanitation programme is now working towards scaling up the 33% safe water coverage in Lakes which has also brought hygiene and life skills education to an estimated 64,612 beneficiaries.
These are the peace ingredients needed to restore hope to a people whose lives have for long been silenced by one of Africa’s most devastating conflict.
* Assist. Communications Officer UNICEF, Southern Sudan