Kindly Donated by Soho House Through Purchases of Life Water

“My name is Ajok Deng Atek. I am 42 years old. I am married, and God has blessed us with seven children—all of them are girls. I am happy to have these seven girls, but my heart longed deeply to have a boy among them. Unfortunately, I never had a son in my life. I am now an older woman living in Kokdaw village. I keep a few goats, cows, sheep, and chickens to support myself, and I also grow some food crops around my house to feed myself and my children. Among my seven daughters, two are married, while five are still at home with me, waiting for their time to marry. When our well broke, we had to go to a neighboring well, and that experience was always full of hardship. The people there humiliated us, asking, “Why don’t you repair your well? You are always overcrowding our well and disturbing our people, who are the rightful owners of this water.” They abused us and interfered with our turn. When we lined up our jerrycans at the well, they pushed ours back and placed theirs in front. This wasted so much of our time, and our children would be left hungry and thirsty at home. Sometimes, they even fought us and shouted at us. Other times, they refused to let us take water at all, disrespecting us and ignoring our rights. Even if we arrived first, they pushed us to the back and took our place. They also charged us more money than they charged their own people for the same water.”

Ajok Deng Atek, Community Member.

This project was undertaken as part of our campaign of projects that actively reduce carbon emissions. This project helped the community save their much needed wood which was previously being burnt daily to boil water. This project has also eliminated the many thousands of hours previously spent on walking to collect water.