The shortage of clean drinking water is a prevalent problem in Pakistan. Due to the lack of clean drinking water children become victims of infections and malnutrition. Along with that, due to stereotypes women are expected to walk all those miles with a matka on their heads to collect clean water, and as a consequence face physical problems, and are drained of energy. 64% of Pakistanis do not have access to clean drinking water. Yup, that’s more than half of our population. The problem is drastic enough to demand innovative solutions and one inspired initiative.
To counter the problem of water scarcity, a group of friends put their heads together and formed ‘Tayaba.org’
These folks at Tayaba.org are insanely talented, they designed a water wheel called the H2O wheel. When we read ‘H2O’ the first thing that hits our mind is water, but this invention actually stands for Help 2 Others. How clever!
The H2O wheel was designed to carry up to 40 liters of water. The water holding capacity of the wheel is eight to ten times more than what a mud pot can carry. Thus, the H2O wheel initiative saves families (especially women and young girls) in the rural area from multiple trips for collecting water.
Young girls spend their days collecting water by commuting for 4 hours instead of being in school since water hauling is generally considered a womanly task.
Over 55 million people in Pakistan, out of a population of 182 million, do not have access to safe drinking water. The current water crisis in Pakistan kills more people than terrorism does; every single day 630 children are losing their lives to waterborne illnesses. There are areas in the country where women and young children have to walk a distance of 3 – 5 kilometers, carrying pots of up to 15 kilos on their heads, to collect clean water.
The initiative plans to empower women and young girls by providing them with the chance to indulge in education and job opportunities, as with the help of the H2O wheel they will now be spending less time in collecting water and so will have more energy and time on their hands.
As of now, the initiative has launched its H2O wheel specifically in Sindh, Pakistan along with a few international regions such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Chad.
Tayaba.org is now planning to expand in Balochistan, Pakistan which is another extremely water-deprived area of Pakistan.
“We are working on building a business model which provides economic opportunities to the women in these areas so that they contribute to their family income and also be able to buy these wheels from us. The money collected would then be utilized for manufacturing and distributing more wheels and taking it to other regions of Pakistan”, they shared, while speaking to MangoBaaz.
The initiative is truly an inspired idea. You can read up more about Tayaba.org what they aim to do, and how to donate here.