Residents of the Old Wharf, a community in Wellington in the east of Freetown, have complained that they are constrained with irregular water supply which has exposed children to sexual violence and related forms of physical violence which occur mostly at night when they go out in search of water.
Mariama Kamara, who resides in the community, explained that her children usually spends almost half of the night searching for sources from where they could fetch water. She added that they usually go to workshops of auto-engineers where in most cases water is available. “Boys who are in these workshops take advantage of this and abuse our children sexually. They usually ask girls for sex before they could allow them fetch water.
She added that some of the girls also use fetching water as an opportunity to see their boyfriends.
“Recently three girls had been impregnated in this community from interactions which occurred during hours when they went out to fetch water,” she noted.
Alima Sesay, a student, said that she doesn’t study at night because the time she could use to study, coincides with when she goes out to fetch water for drinking, cooking and washing in the house.
“Before I return from my daily search for water which is used for domestic used, I am tired. In the morning hours, I am usually late for school and I miss some classes. All of these cause me to lag behind in my school work which results to bad performances. We don’t have pipe borne water in the community; we usually cover a very long distance before we could access water. I sometimes stay in the street for over five hours just to fetch water,” she explains.
Zainab Kamara, who sells rice (cookery), said that sometimes she could not sell because of lack of water in the community. She said that she usually makes a living and maintains her family out of the food she sells in the community. “Sometimes to cook rice for sale I buy bundles of water in order to keep my business going, and that usually cost lots of money. I sometimes buy a bundle of water for Le6, 000,” she emphasized.
She appealed to the Government of Sierra Leone to help the community with pipe borne water.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
04/03/2021. ISSUE NO: 8014