Disaster Response Somalia Project #11793

Providing Clean Water During An Emergency

Project Report | Apr 17, 2015
Improving Access to Safe Water in Somalia

By Robert Rutherford | Resource Development Officer

Severe flooding in late May and early June 2014 caused thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), living in 57 settlements across the five zones of Kismayo, Somalia, to seek refuge in Dalxis IDP camp, located on higher ground in the Farjano zone of Kismayo. The local Jubbaland authorities have built 65 latrines in the camp, but access to safe water in the form of shallow wells is still mostly lacking. As many as 60% of households are affected, according to International Medical Corps’ assessment in early December 2014. The few existing nearby wells are not always serviceable or adequately protected, and more reliable water sources are often located 1-2 km away, needing an average of 2-3 hours for the return trip by foot.

International Medical Corps has targeted existing shallow wells for rehabilitation in locations that are safe for women and girls to access. Minimum standards for the rehabilitation of shallow wells as set out by the Somalia water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) cluster , which brings together local and international non-governmental organizations, government departments and UN agencies who are actively involved in the implementation of WASH promotion activities in Somalia, will be closely adhered to. The rehabilitation work will include removal of well debris, repairs of concrete aprons, drainage channels, soakage pits, well linings, and head walls, and shock chlorination of the water.

To serve the maximum number of people, the target wells will either be communal or owned by a group of households. To ensure ongoing oversight for each of these wells, International Medical Corps will establish a community water committee consisting of 8 specially trained men and women. The committees will manage ongoing maintenance, promote sound sanitation and hygiene practices , and engage in community outreach and engagement.

With the generous support of GlobalGiving and other donors, International Medical Corps is able to improve access to safe drinking water with projects such as these for families and communities who have lost their homes because of conflict and natural disasters.

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Jan 20, 2015
Meet Kate: A High School Student in the Philippines Selected as a Hygiene Champion

By Robert Rutherford | Resource Development Officer

Children using the new hand washing station.

In schools damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, installing new hand washing stations and water systems is just the first step towards recovery. Ensuring students know how to properly and regularly use these new facilities is also a critical step to restoring long-term health. Utilizing local engineers to design and oversee construction, International Medical Corps installed new water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities and repaired damaged facilities at 141 schools in only eight months. In addition, our local WASH staff - which include nurses, Hygiene Promotion Officers (HPOs), and a team that supports the Department of Education’s school-based management system - train parents and teachers on hygiene messaging and ask that a Hygiene Champion be elected from the student body at each school. These students lead their peers in adopting and practicing good hygiene and utilizing the restored facilities.

At MacArthur National High School (MNHS) that Hygiene Champion is 15-year-old Kate. Soft spoken but sharp and confident, Kate was elected Supreme Student Government President of MNHS in 2013. She was just a few months into her senior year when Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) devastated her home town. Large stretches of the school’s tin roof were ripped away and the towering courtyard trees were uprooted, tearing up their concrete bases. Books, papers, chairs and desks were drenched - walls and chalkboards remain stained by the torrential rains.

"All was washed out, all facilities were devastated," Kate remembers. "And we bore in our minds 'we cannot graduate.’” Kate’s extraordinary determination pushed her forward despite the destruction and damaged morale surrounding her. “But I am strong. I must be. I uphold the name of the high school,” says Kate. “As president, I had to make plans to go back to before Yolanda.”

International Medical Corps’ HPOs train the Hygiene Champions on basic hygiene education, covering topics like food preparation and disposal, recycling and garbage disposal, proper tooth brushing and hand washing, and hygiene while using latrines, or comfort rooms as they are called in the Philippines. Students receive hygiene kits and participate in WASH clubs organized in their schools.

Before MNHS received its new hand washing station, complete with a dozen faucets and slick new tiles, many students frequently fell ill and had poor school attendance as a result. Now, Kate says, student absences due to illness have dropped thanks to the new hand washing station and hygiene promotion activities, which have helped prevent the spread of infectious diseases between students.

“Before, we had no hand washing station and we could not ensure sanitation for ourselves,” she recalls. “We are so glad that our school was chosen.”

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Oct 23, 2014
Meeting Refugees' Basic Needs: Fatuma's Story

By Robert Rutherford | Resource Development Officer

Fatuma, Melkadida refugee camp, Ethiopia

Fatuma is a 36-year-old mother of 5 living in the Melkadida refugee camp in Ethiopia. Due to increasing violence in the region, Fatuma fled Somalia with her family in 2011 enduring a long, seven-day journey before arriving at the camp. In Somalia, Fatuma worked as a trader, in the camp she spends her time taking care of her children.

Fatuma has greatly benefited from International Medical Corps sanitation and hygiene programs in the camp. She attributes her family’s current healthy status to the valuable lessons she learned and is now implementing. She learned that using a washing basin separate from the potties her two children now use has greatly reduced her family’s risk of communicable disease. International Medical Corps also taught Fatuma about personal hygiene, safe water handling and storage, environmental cleanliness, solid and liquid waste management and diarrheal prevention.

Fatuma says International Medical Corps helped ‘save her family’ and is thankful for the critical supplies our staff was able to provide so her family can practice healthy hygiene and sanitation. These items include jerry cans, a washing basin, a three-liter cleansing container, potties, and laundry and bathing soap. Fatuma says, “I have no worry now for such things that I can’t afford to buy. Without the support of International Medical Corps, it will be challenging for us even to buy soap and keep our children and the family healthy.”

International Medical Corps has been delivering water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs in Melkadida for the past two years. Since then, there has been a significant reduction in WASH-related diseases among the refugee community. “International Medical Corps has not stopped providing us knowledge and has also helped us change our knowledge into practices,” says Fatuma. “It was worthwhile and the basis for keeping my family healthy.” Thanks to the generous support of Global Giving and other donors International Medical Corps is able to deliver lifesaving WASH programs such as these to underserved populations around the world.

Fatuma, Melkadida refugee camp, Ethiopia

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