The Power of Water

Until recently, Ruth was among the world's 1.1 billion people - one of every five - who lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Photo: Lesley Bourns/Mercy Corps

Harmonville Township, Grand Bassa County, Liberia — Every day, Ruth, a 33-year-old mother of six, wakes early to start her lengthy list of household chores. Her daily tasks are daunting. Besides caring for her children, she cooks the meals, collects the firewood, tends to the cassava plants in the fields and, most importantly, fetches the water.

"The nearest place for water is a 20-minute walk from our village, and I make the walk at least once a day to have enough for my family," says Ruth. Distance to the source isn't the only water issue Ruth has to face. She produces a yellow bucket filled with cloudy water and explains, "Once the water is collected, it has to be boiled before we can drink it. That water is not clean."

Ruth is among the world's 1.1 billion people - one of every five - who lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Diseases caused by dirty water include cholera, typhoid, polio, hepatitis A and diarrhea - diseases that are responsible for 4,500 deaths a day of children under 5. It's a global public-health crisis that hinders progress on reducing poverty, increasing school enrollment and stimulating economic growth, all reasons why the United Nations Millennium Development Goals call for halving the number of people without access to clean water by 2015.

The water crisis is especially acute in Liberia, the tiny West African nation of three million people still struggling to recover from a 14-year civil war. A recent UNICEF report names diarrhea and cholera as "two of the biggest child killers," with diarrhea responsible for nearly a quarter of all deaths of children under 5. Even in Monrovia, the country's run-down beachfront capital, less than half the population has access to clean water.

But newly elected President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has promised that by 2009, every town and major village in this 43,000-square-mile country will have at least one clean water source. Mercy Corps is helping Liberians reach this goal. Since 2003, the agency has partnered with dozens of villages to dig wells that provide clean, potable water for thousands of families.

In Harmonville, the trek for water that's not even clean translates into physical hardship, time lost and increased disease risk for families. The village, which lies about an hour's drive inland from the coastal city of Buchanan, is essentially a cluster of thatched-roof huts that stretch along a rugged dirt track and extend into dense forests. Cocoa, mangoes and coconuts all grow wild here.

The few vehicles that pass along the main road kick up large clouds of dust into the faces of pedestrians, most of whom balance large loads on their heads and shoulders: bundles of firewood, bags of rice, buckets of water.

At midday, the searing heat has slowed activity to a crawl. A group of men and boys sit in the shade of the tree and enjoy a simple meal of stewed greens, doughy porridge and a spicy sauce as they receive a group of visitors from Mercy Corps. Women change their wrapped skirts and put fresh t-shirts on their children before joining the crowd.

That morning, the men had neared completion on what will soon be a latrine to provide better sanitation to 850 residents. They've already dug two wells and broken ground on a second latrine pit. Mercy Corps helped the village prioritize and complete the projects, part of ongoing efforts to give Liberians the tools they need to build a more peaceful and prosperous future.

In more than 100 communities, Mercy Corps works with residents to select a representative "community development committee," which is then trained in the basic tenets of good governance, project management and conflict resolution. It's part of the USAID-funded Community Peace Building and Development program, which builds the capacity of Liberian organizations and communities to organize and spearhead improvement projects.

Harmonville's elected leaders determined that clean water and a functioning latrine were top priorities. It's important not only for everyday drinking water, they explain, but also for nearby weekly markets whose vibrancy depends on access to water sources. Providing reliable water and sanitation should improve opportunities for villagers to buy and sell what they need.

For infrastructure projects such as these, the village provides the labor and Mercy Corps pays for construction materials as part of a World Bank program to aid "fragile states."

Asked what she will do with the extra time she'll have once the wells are operational, Ruth replies, "I will care for my children and give attention when they are sick. I will tend my crops to sell and harvest for my family."

Her purposefulness echoes what President Johnson-Sirleaf's recently told a joint session of the U.S. Congress: that even after a long period of conflict and despair, the Liberian people "have faith in new beginnings."

The people of Harmonville may have limited financial resources, but their resiliency and determination are boundless. Talking to Ruth and her neighbors, the sense of forward progress is tangible. For them, clean water is only the start.