How do you get water to the thousands of Ugandan refugees, forced from their homes by 20 years of war? If anyone can, jerry can…!
In 2007, fighting in northern Uganda displaced over 80% of the population, forcing more than 250,000 people in the Kitgum district to live in camps. In these cases, water is always a problem – so Oxfam distributed more 12,000 jerry cans.
Kitgum district borders Sudan, where rebels have been fighting the Uganda government for the past 20 years. There are two counties in the district, and about 83% of this population are displaced and living in camps. Oxfam is working to improve public health through dedicated programmes in seven camps – and as always, the delivery of sufficient, high quality water is vital.
When Oxfam staff visited the camps they saw that people needed additional water storage containers. Oxfam Unwrapped set out to provide every household in three districts, plus 21 Learning Centres, with a 20 litre jerry can, and education and advice on the importance of hygiene and keeping jerry cans clean.