No more fetching water at midnight for Sharmila

Sharmila Thing, a local of Churiyamai in Makwanpur, doesn't have to walk a long way to get water anymore. A rainwater tank has been built near her doorsteps so she can store rainwater during the rainy season, and that is enough for up to nine months.

Like Sharmila, hundreds of other women are happy to be getting water near their home. Before these tanks were installed in the community they had to spend hours fetching water. Some of them had to walk for nearly five hours to get a single pot of water. (In the vast majority of cases it was the womens responcibility to fetch the water.)

Sarmila proudly shares, "We’ve got a new life now. Before, we had to go a long way to get water, sometimes very early in the morning or even at midnight.”

Now that they no longer have to spend so much time collecting water, they have more time and energy for their children, cattle and home. "I have been able to earn 20 thousands rupees (280 US $) a year since the water jar was installed,” says Sharmila.

With the aim of providing communities with access to safe drinking water, Plan has been supporting them in installing these concrete tanks in hill districts where water sources are very far away and there are no other alternatives to manage the drinking water. So far, 260 jars have been installed and more than 2000 people have benefited from them.