By Tabora Bojang
Several neighborhoods in Sitanunku village in the North Bank Region have bemoaned the persistent water shortage which they said is seriously affecting their livelihood.
According to the residents, the water scarcity is affecting the general wellbeing of the community as well as the horticultural activities.
They said Sitanunku women will have to travel for long distance to fetch water in surrounding villages.
Yusupha Jatta, the coordinator of the village community-based association dubbed “Men Yanta Association” said the water shortage is seriously affecting the community, saying “our women travel kilometers to fetch water from our surrounding villages and they have a five-hectare horticultural garden with over hundred (100) women who are working there and each has 20sq meters to grow, but due to scarcity of water the women are now encountering poor harvest for the past two years.”
He said most of the inputs the women acquired from the garden are used for supporting their children’s education and as well as give assistance to their husbands at home.
Mabinta Jammeh, the chairwoman of the association, said: “We only have three (3) wells of 15m deep in the garden and we find it much difficult to fetch water from these wells because it can seriously damage our health status by continuing such hectic activities.”
Madam Jammeh further said the problem is even affecting the effective learning of their children as the only school of the locality.
“We have a fertile land which is very good for horticultural gardening and we are willing to support the development agenda of the government in the agricultural sector because it is the backbone and only road map to acquire food self-sufficiency. And we will endeavor to make that dream a reality if remedy is provided to our water crisis,” she said.
They called on the government, NGOs and philanthropists to help them to solve the water crisis to better enhance the domestic and horticultural activities in the village.
Sitanunku is in the upper Nuimi district NBR and less than an hour drive from Barra, the provincial Nuimi Capital.
