Water Walks
More than a billion people worldwide do not have access to clean safe drinking water. A BBC radio series about life-preserving journeys to fetch water highlights the work of Practical Action (formerly ITDG) in Kenya.
Maasai herdsman Sosoika Karanda and his wife Neshoo walk across the Rift Valley to water their cattle. The livestock provide their only income, and the further they walk their animals, the less milk they can produce. Having lost two children to malaria, they are acutely aware of the need to keep some money aside for hospital fees when the inevitable fever strikes in the rainy season.
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Josephine Nduku lives in Makuru Kwa Ruben, one of Nairobi's sprawling slums, a forgotten village tucked away behind the heavy industry at the edge of the city. She is a single mother with nine children, the youngest of whom is just 21 days old. Makuru has plenty of water - all of it contaminated by the open sewers and although Josephine lives near to the water tap, she struggles to find the enough money to pay the local entrepreneurs on whom she depends.
These are just two examples of the millions of "water walks" that people worldwide have to make every day to fetch drinking water. Practical Action is working with people and communities across East Africa and beyond to ensure access to clean and safe water.
Practical Action takes a broad, integrated view of the use of water resources. An appropriate technology option such as rainwater harvesting yields water - and poor women and men can decide how best to use that water to manage and sustain their livelihoods.
BBC's Water Walks series was broadcast as a two-part programme on the BBC World Service in April and May 2003, and as a series of five 15-minute programmes on BBC Radio 4 in May 2003. The two-part version can also be heard over the internet.
Listen via the BBC World Service websiteThe BBC Water website profile’s Practical Action’s work in Kenya with water jars, loading donkeys, shallow wells and improved sanitation.
Further information
Read about our work on water and sanitation, and how we integrate this into our programmes.
Practical Action East Africa's Urban Livelihoods and Shelter Programme, and case studies from Kenya including:
ITDGPractical Action is a key partner in Secure Water, a research project about water supply and its role in tackling poverty. A video detailing the project was screened at the third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan.
