WATER IS LIFE

Before she can think about school, rest or play, Fatima (15) thinks about water.

She spends hours each day queuing for water as part of the daily struggle to find water in a displaced people's shelter in Al Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan.

Attacks in Sudan have damaged critical water infrastructure, leaving families struggling to access basic necessities and placing even greater strain on the services they rely on to survive.

Children like Fatima live with the consequences every day.

Fatima lives with her parents and eight siblings. With such a large family, they need a great deal of water each day. But often, they cannot collect enough to meet their basic needs. 

“Sometimes I wait from early morning until noon just to collect water, that is why I can only collect it once a day,” she says.

To help families affected by the water shortages, UNICEF and partners are trucking chlorinated water to displacement shelters, helping meet urgent water needs in Al Obeid, thanks to global humanitarian thematic funding. 

At the same time, efforts are underway to rehabilitate damaged water systems and solarise boreholes to increase water yields and provide more sustainable solutions.

Although Fatima and her family have endured many hardships since being displaced, the struggle to access water remains one of their greatest daily challenges.

“Without water there is no life,” Fatima says.

Today, her greatest hope is simple. 

“We want water to be available closer to us. We want to drink. We want to bathe. We want to eat."

PHOTOS AND TEXT: UNICEF