It is difficult for a city person to imagine that residents of high mountain villages sometimes have almost no supply of clean drinking water in their homes. We are used to mindlessly spending it, while rural women are fighting for every extra liter.
“We have a large reservoir in the village, from which we collect water in turn and according to the limit. Because of this, conflicts often flare up.
Recently, two women even had a fight: “Why did you give two flasks of water to that woman, and two barrels to me?” – one of them began to resent and attacked the other with fists, the fight ended with the latter falling unconscious, ”says Dilafruz Yusufova, a resident of the highland village of Khoja Mumin, Vose district.
Dilafruz Yusufova Photos Asia Plus
This village is located on the slope of the mountain of the same name, 8 km from the center of the Vose district. About 1.5 thousand people live here. Some houses are located a few kilometers from the reservoir.
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The collection and transportation of water is mainly done by women, men have a lot of other hard work. Many even went to work in the city, and some – outside the country.
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In line since the night
We arrived at an ordinary Tajik village, the houses here are small, livestock scattered around the hills.
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A tired donkey was walking along a narrow dusty road, driven by a villager, with cans of water tied to its sides.
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Then we met a woman pushing with difficulty a bulky cart filled with large buckets and barrels. This is Dilafruz Yusufova, whose every day begins with a campaign for water.
And so it is with all the women here, because they have to collect water from a reservoir in the center of the village. Through force, with sore backs, they carry hundreds of liters of water to their homes every day on large carts or on the backs of donkeys. Carrying water in buckets is even more difficult and longer.
With the collected water, women fill plastic tanks, and this is also a laborious process.
60% of Central Asia’s water resources are formed on the territory of Tajikistan, but only 15-20% are used. The country is implementing 4 state programs to improve water supply, but, according to various sources, today from 33% to 49% of the population are deprived of access to clean water or it is difficult.
The problem of lack of clean water affects most of the districts of Khatlon region, which is the most densely populated in the country. So the inhabitants of the village of Khoja Mumin are glad that they have at least this water from the reservoir, but its supply is limited.
In the hot summer months, there will be no water at all, and as long as there is an opportunity, women stand in line from the night and wait for them to be allowed to get it: two flasks per household per day, which is very small (the flask volume is standard 40 liters, barrels – 20 -liter).
Broken backs and bachelor sons
The women of this mountainous village have one sore for all – sore backs due to the daily dragging of barrels. Treatment is a waste of time and money, because one of the main prescriptions of a doctor is a ban on lifting weights.
Khoja Mumin village Photos Asia Plus
“I have chronic back pain. I am being treated. Doctors forbid lifting heavy things, but there is no way without it,” says Zumratbi Azizova, a resident of the village.
And the lack of water in this village affects the youth.
“Wherever we go to woo our sons, they don’t give us brides because we don’t have water,” she adds. – Residents of neighboring villages do not want such a fate for their daughters, therefore they refuse matchmakers. That is why the local guys go for long walks single.
The villager Dilafruz Yusufova was once also a city girl, but, having moved to the village, she immediately developed back problems and even in the heat she had to wear a warm jumper.
Meeting place can not be Changed
The area near the water tank is also a meeting place for women. Here they communicate, exchange news, because in order to get water, you have to stand in line for a long time.
Water poured into domestic tanks is carefully guarded and saved for drinking and cooking. And for household needs, enterprising villagers collect rainwater. To collect it, they set up barrels around the houses, into which rain flows down gutters from the roofs. It is necessary for residents for washing, washing dishes, washing and bathing children.
That is why they pray here every day for rain, anxiously awaiting the onset of the most difficult hot days.
At the end of spring and summer months, the problem of water shortage in villages intensifies, and the terms of full access of the population to clean water have been repeatedly postponed by the state.
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According to the latest official statement, Tajiks will be fully provided with fresh water only by 2030. In the meantime, they can only rely on themselves, the mercy of nature and God.
Source: Asia Plus
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