By: Foday Manneh
About 200 households in Sare Gayo village in the Gambia’s Wuli West district of the Upper River Region are grappling with severe access to water with no source of accessible supply available in several villages.
There seems to be no end to the water crisis in the remote village of Sare Gayo with only one old unusable well that has not being used 2017.
Women and children are facing the worst of the situation.
Sare Gayo women’s leader, Aminata Jallow expressed frustration in the lingering situation they have been going through, stating that their women travel 7 to 8 kilometers daily to a nearby village in Senegal to get water in a risky venture that continues to worry them.
“The difficulty of getting water here is extremely frustrating. We will want water to take bath, wash our clothes, and cook, even for animals to drink but to nothing comes easy here”.
Some families go for two three days without cooking with untold hunger, simply because there is no water. Our children and their mothers are struggling hard.” Aminata told TAT.
‘’Our animals die because there is no water for them to drink. The water problem here is severe on us. We do go to Senegal mostly using donkey or horse carts to get water, and so we are buying 4000 CFA for water per month. We need aid now.’’ Says Aminata.
The village Alkalo, Gayo Sowe also highlighted that during Ramadan, their women bear the brunt of getting water braving long distances in the outskirts of Senegal with their babies to access water.
The people of Sare Gayo are praying and hoping for some quick intervention to allay a major need affecting the entire community.
