These villagers saw the problem and came up with the solution.

January 2012: The people of Goth Mohammad Bakhsh in Dera Allah Yar district, Baluchistan province, knew that the water they drank had been contaminated by seepage from a septic tank -- they could see human excrement floating on the pond they gathered it from -- but they also knew that without that water, they’d go thirsty. 

As villager Haji Abdul Aziz Khosa explained, “There was no proper source of water safe to drink or to use for domestic purposes.” In fact, the 350 households of the village were drawing water from the same pond their livestock bathed in. 

The villagers’ lives have now been transformed by an initiative jointly supported by Plan Pakistan and its local partner, Islamic Relief, which saw a team of social mobilisers travel across the flood-affected districts of Naseerabad and Jaffarabad to educate 200,000 people on the joys of hand-washing, sanitation, drainage systems, the consumption of safe drinking water and the safe disposal of human waste.

Keeping it in the community

In Goth Mohammad Bakhsh, a social mobiliser helped the community conduct what’s called “social mapping”, for which villagers identify and prioritise their key developmental problems at a public meeting.

Providing clean water was at the top of the list. Together, villagers traced the source of contamination of the pond and discussed the possible repercussions. Then, they decided to clean out the old septic tank. The 2,450 residents have since seen a decrease in the number of people getting sick from water-borne diseases.

Haji Aziz added that villagers also learned about the importance of personal hygiene, which had never been discussed before.

“No doubt these steps are for our own benefit. We were not following them before due to a lack of awareness. We are satisfied with the efforts of programme implementation and we hope to be helped out in future.” 

Meanwhile, the social mobilisers have moved on to other areas in need of support, spreading their message of cleanliness and ensuring villagers live happier, healthier lives.