Sabina’s walk for water

Sabina and her children spend 2 hours each day walking for water. Every day, Sabina walks to a small pond 2 miles away from home with her 2 year old daughter on her back and her 7 year old son at her side. She returns carrying a jerrycan of water weighing up to 40 lbs. The walk is gruelling and physically demanding.

Sabina and her family live in Nkuringo. A nine hour drive from Uganda’s capital, Nkuringo is a small village nestled in the lush mountainous jungle on the fringes of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Women are responsible for collecting water to be used for life’s essentials - drinking, cooking, laundry and baths. The walk for water is not optional.

Even during pregnancy, women like Sabina must walk for water. As one community member put it - “Even if she is giving birth tomorrow, she will walk for water today.”

Here, water is not scarce. In the rainy season, water floods walking paths and cascades off roofs. But without a way to store it, the water runs into the ground and is lost to the community members. In the dry season, nearby water spots run dry. Sabina and women from her village will walk even further to collect water.

In Nkuringo, at the last mile of healthcare, there is no antenatal care currently available for women in Nkuringo. Many women will give birth at home, without access to a skilled birth attendant or emergency obstetric care if needed. In Nkuringo, giving birth at home is very risky, with high rates of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidities.

We are working to change this.

For a healthy pregnancy and to nourish a newborn baby, women need water nearby. Women must have access to quality antenatal care and give birth safely in a health centre.

It is for women like Sabina that we are undertaking the 2022 Big Give Christmas Challenge. Our Big Give appeal will raise critical funds to ensure Sabina, her family and community have water closer to home and access lifesaving safe motherhood care.  

Without water at home, women cannot live up to their full potential. Women like Sabina are inspiring and have the strength to transform their community.

Join us to empower more women like Sabina to help their families and communities.

All funds raised through the 2020 Big Give Christmas Challenge supports our project “Thrive: Addressing Water Collection in Pregnancy in Nkuringo, Uganda.”