Welthungerhilfe Sierra Leone and partners joined the World over to celebrate World Water Day in the midst of COVID 19 with funding from Irish Aid, GIZ and EU. The theme for this year’s 2021 celebration is “Valuing Water”. Welthungerhilfe celebrates the World Water Day at Blama town in Small Bo chiefdom Kenema district. This event was conducted in collaboration with the Kenema District Council, Water Directorate, Water Aid Sierra Leone and WASH partners. The program is celebrated through a concerted effort of three WHH projects, (SLE 1084) Linking Agriculture, Natural Resources Management towards Nutrition Security plus Wash-LANN+, WASH self-supply and COVID 19 fair trade emergency initiative.
The celebration ended with a galaxy of District stakeholders, community stakeholders and farmers representatives within the chiefdom.
During the engagement at Blama community centre, some of the key messages included Value for Water, Water and Sanitation are Human Rights. The Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWAS) is a principle that acknowledges that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to every person’s life.
In his statement Ishmael Koroma who represented the paramount chief of Small Bo chiefdom Pc Mohamed Kokosuleh Dhafie Benya said before now residents in the chiefdom have been making use of streams, rivers and swamp water. But now with the intervention of NGOs in the chiefdom a lot has been done in the provision of bore holes, hand dug water wells among others. He disclosed that the water project from Bandawoh by the government is also in progress, and soon the entire Blama town and its environs will soon enjoy pine borne water in the chiefdom.
In his statement, Fredrick Fabah head of project WHH Kenema said World Water Day is a day put aside by UN Assembly since 1993 to look at how nature reacts to water scarcity. He said the theme ‘Value for Water’ shows that water is a very key commodity for our life and all what we do as human beings need water. The demand for it is so important that everybody need and are desperate for water. He said with the project called WASH self-supply at WHH, they are operating in ten villages in Small Bo chiefdom providing them with safe drinking water and other support. He disclosed that as an organization they are working with other players like Ministry of water resources, DIP Initiative, town and district councils, SLE 1084 and SLE 1087 all working with one approach in ensuring good health for all. He said 2021 World Water Day celebration in Kenema district at Blama town is led by Kenema District Council that is in charge of the entire district. Talking about hand washing, the importance of water, and how to access water in the community were part of the discussion. Cultural performance ended the ceremony.