‘We leave our husbands at night and go in search of water under the mercy of reptiles…’
Water crisis has hit Pishegu, a farming community in the Karaga District of the Northern Region, as both boreholes serving residents are on the verge of drying up due to the prolonged dry season.
The boreholes, one of which is mechanised, do not yield enough water to serve the growing population of Pishegu and its environs with a population of about 12,000.
The situation has compelled residents to compete with their livestock for water from an almost dried up dam, constructed more than 25 years ago at Pishegu.
Residents at a community forum at Pishegu held to find a solution to the crisis, resolved to make individual contributions to dredge the dam as well as establish a committee to facilitate the process of salvaging their plight.
The forum was organised by community journalists and listener club members under the Youth Speak Up project being implemented by Youth Empowerment for Life, Rural Media Network (RUMNET) and HOPin Academy with funding support from Danish Ingathering through Ghana Friendship group in Denmark.
The listener club members in the district mobilised the community members to listen to a podcast on the water issue discussed earlier on a radio programme by the community journalists trained under the project.
Madam Fuseina Majeed, a resident of Pishegu, said the water crisis had not only taken a toll on their economic activities since they spent productive hours looking for water but is also creating needless squabbles at home.
Madam Fuseina said, “We leave our husbands at night and go in search of water under the mercy of reptiles and we fear the situation will worsen if the rains do not set in soon.”
She said she and many of her colleagues had to stop shea butter processing for some time due to the water crisis -causing loss of income to supplement the family budget.
She also expressed worry that many school children no longer went to school on time while others had to forgo school to search for water adding “I am particularly worried because of our school children who have to leave school and join us to get water.”
Mr Alhassan Yakubu, Assembly Member for Pishegu Electoral Area, appealed to central government and non-governmental organisations to help the community find a permanent solution to the water crisis.
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