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Water scarcity, children put aside education in search of water

Human Rights Commission Chair Jamesina King reports a severe lack of access to fresh water among children in Sierra Leone, with the most hard-pressed shortages occurring in Freetown. King reports that thirsty local boys have stopped going to school and instead have started spending their days pushing handmade carts in search of fresh water for themselves and their families. Morad Braig, the local representative for the Department for International Development (DFID), has explained that this shortage will likely worsen juvenile diarrhoea deaths, which cause close to one-third of all preventable deaths among Sierra Leonean children.
Jamesina King describes this lack of access to fresh water a violation of basic human rights and also as a sign that Sierra Leoneans are being denied an adequate standard of living through the privatization of essential services. The lack of fresh water has already been blamed on failures by the private Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC), which oversees water services for much of the country. GVWC’s manager and representative, Darrel Thompson, has disclosed that the company does not receive any government subsidies and thus is dependent on charging customers for their services.
Tennyson Williams, the local director of Action Aid, said in a statement that the Human Rights Commission report is not intended to cast blame but rather to serve as a “wakeup call to look at the water system in [Sierra Leone].”
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Facts

  • It is a known fact that handouts do not work; if they worked, the billions of dollars in donations given to non-profits would’ve ended the vicious cycle of dependency in third world nations. But instead of the problems getting better, there is a pressing need for more and more donations every day since millions of children slip through cracks everyday; dying every second from preventable and easily curable diseases.

 

  • Non-profits are allowing millions of children to slip through cracks in the system while millions of dollars are being donated annually.

    Most non-profits use their donations by re-donating to individuals or other organizations without any accountability.

    (Read link below for more information of non-profit accountability)

  • Most non profits raise millions of dollars annually; the cost to construct infrastructure that will provide permanent reliable electricity in over 20 districts in an African country is less than $3 million.

  • Funds raised so locals can drink clean water for a limited period of time unless donations keep pouring in exceeds 10 million dollars. The cost to construct permanent infrastructure for permanent clean water supply in 20 districts in an African country does not exceed 5 million dollars.

Quotes

“Anger isn’t always bad for the soul; anger with an affirmative goal is best for the soul".

Yandouba Monahan

Health Care Community Outreach

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