The Mercy Corps Blog
A daily look into the work, thoughts and ideas of our team around the world.
Blog Post Posted October 21, 2009, 8:23 am by Mr. Ogaro
Water flows again for a Somaliland community
Mohamed Jama Harale, a Beer community elder, is grateful that Mercy Corps helped restore water service to his village after flash floods washed away existing infrastructure. Photo: Mercy Corps Somalia
Beer (pronounced Bayer) village in Somaliland lost its water system in 2005 when flash floods hit the region, swept away water delivery pipes, and left a seasonal community well clogged with silt. Parents looked to their children for help and in turn students stayed home from school to help ferry water for livestock and household use.
Mercy Corps, with funding from USAID, recently replaced old water pipes and the pump dynamo, refurbished the community water standpipes and constructed a new reservoir at the school.
Today the community’s rehabilitated stand pipe bubbles with running water and Mohamed Jama Harale, a Beer community elder, exudes excitement as he explains, "I am happy that my animals can now get water and my three sons and one daughter who are school age can get time to go to school."
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Mr. Ogaro is program engineer for Mercy Corps' SEEDS program in Somalia. (Mercy Corps staff members in Somalia have requested only their last name be used and their faces not be shown due to security concerns.)
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