KOMUBETI AND GILUTAE, GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS
Komubeti and
with the support of the Solomon Islands Rural Development Program (RDP), they also enjoy an essential human right: access to clean water.
RDP facilitated the installation of boreholes and pumps to fill gravity water tanks in Komubeti and Gilutae in 2014 after flash floods had decimated the two villages. The floods washed away homes and gardens, and also contaminated the hand dug wells which previously provided the only source of water.
Many children suffered from dysentery and diarrhea in the aftermath of the floods, and the time spent caring for ailing children and bringing them to and from the clinic took parents away from repairing their homes and gardens.
Additionally, villagers faced the challenge of needing to walk as long as 45 minutes each way to fetch clean water. Such extensive time spent collecting water everyday limited the villages’ economic productivity.
Today, nearly 50 families in the villages enjoy the benefits of the new water system, with water tanks perched high above the ground and safe from contamination delivering clean water to every home.
The project’s impact on the community has been immediately felt.
“Our schedules don’t have to revolve around water anymore. We can work in our gardens, take care of our children, even go fishing late at night, and we don’t have to worry about having water when we get home.”
In Gilutae, Elizabeth captured the profound freedom that a clean and consistent water source has provided for her village.
No cases of diarrhea or dysentery have been reported since the completion of the project, and community members also benefit from the time saved by no longer walking far distances to fetch water.
The Rural Development Program has brought potable water to over 200 communities across
