As the Beijing +15 conference came to the fore, Foroyaa has initiated a column entitled " Beijing +15 reflection" which deals with issues relating to the lives of the women in the Gambia. In this edition, we publish the voices of urban women who are finding it extremely difficult to get water for their daily domestic needs.

Women in the urban area who spoke to this reporter, asserted that women empowerment will be a lip service to them as long as they trek 500 to 700 metres each day to get access to clean drinking water. The women told this reporter that after trekking a distance of 500 to 700 metres, they also have to join a queue in order to draw water. The women pointed out that they usually spend hours at the tap before one could gainaccess to draw water due to the length of the queue. The women called on government to help them through NAWEC with pipe borne water.. For the information of the reader, this reporter visited Abuko, Faji Kunda, Wellingara and Tabokoto,and Sinchu Alhagie and their water problems differ.

The Plight of Women in Abuko

In Abuko for example, the women told this reporter that a nursery school which has been sponsored by some people from Belgium is currently supplying them with clean drinking water from the bore hole which is provided for the school and environs. However, the bore hole ins running on a generator. According to them the Belgians promised that if NAWEC took over the electicity generation to pump the water they would expand the project to other parts of Abuko. They are still waiting for NAWEC's intervention.

The women in Abuko asserted that, at the moment they are paying D1.00 per 20 liters of water, which they use to buy fuel for the operation of the bore-hole. The Women lamented that 200 litres of water daily cost them D10 which amount to D300 a mouth. Upon all these payment the women said, they would carry the containers on their heads or on wheel barrows for a distance of 200 to 500 metres. They called on government to help them with electric metre for the school to make clean drinking water affordable and accessible to them. At Faji Kunda and Tabokoto, the women lodged complaint of limited taps in the area thereby compeling them to trek 500 to 700 metres to reach a tap.

They lamented that due to the limited taps in their areas, people have to queue for hours before they could draw water from the tap, particularly in the morning hours. They called on the central and local government to help them address the issue of water in the area.

At Sinchu Alhagi Village in the Kombo North District, the women lamented that at the moment, they have to rely on the services of a donkey or horse-carts to get water since the only hand pump of the village which was situated near the village central mosque is dysfunctional for some time. They said they either have to hire the service of a donkey or horse cart or draw water from the wells. They called on council and government to help them address their water problem.