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Day 2

Three days of drinking water for a family in Bangladesh

Sparkling life – unadulterated and precious Sparkling life – unadulterated and precious Sparkling life – unadulterated and precious Sparkling life – unadulterated and precious

Three days of drinking water for a family in Bangladesh
Day 2
Access to clean drinking water

Anyone flying into the capital Dhaka during the rainy season would never think that Bangladesh could be suffering from a water shortage. The flooded rice fields begin right next to the runway. The country can boast some superlatives when it comes to water: for example, the largest river delta in the world, the Ganges Delta, into which the muddy waters of the three largest rivers of the subcontinent flow. For three to four months of the year, 60 percent of the country's surface area is also "under water". Then the monsoon rain fills the rivers and rolls through the country in streams that are sometimes several kilometers wide. Valuable sediments are deposited in the soil, which give the country three harvests a year. Despite this, the people who live on the alluvial islands in the rivers often have little access to clean drinking water.

Access to clean drinking water
need
Clean drinking water for families on the river islands in Bangladesh.
activity
The MATI association purchases the material to drill water pumps, which the village families install and use.
Measurable performance
Number of families with access to clean drinking water.
Result
Families have access to clean drinking water and diseases such as diarrhea and skin diseases are declining.
Systemically relevant impact
The health of families and people improves and child mortality decreases.
background

Surrounded by water - and yet without clean drinking water. This is the reality of the families who live on the alluvial islands in the Brahmaputra-Char basin. Population pressure in Bangladesh is great. 157 million people live in an area that is less than half the size of Germany. This forces the poor population in particular to build their huts where no one else has any claim to the land: in the riverbed. According to the World Bank (2016), 51 percent of the population in the Mymensingh district live below the poverty line, while according to surveys by MATI eV, the figure in the alluvial area is over 80 percent. Only a few types of vegetables and rice thrive on the barren, sandy soils. The families' income is correspondingly low. This is particularly true because the harvest sometimes fails completely when the river reclaims the space. Many families have to make do with two meals a day. The families then fetch drinking water from ponds or the river. This is also where people shower, wash their clothes, dishes and cows, and often relieve themselves. The result is diarrhea and a very high number of typhoid and cholera infections. If you compare the health data with that of families who have a water pump, you quickly see that clean water is the key to health.

Digrir Char, Boro Char, Kadiar Char, Bangladesch
Day 2
The good deed

Your good deed enables families on the alluvial islands to have access to clean drinking water. They receive water pumps that they use together with their neighboring families. As part of the good deed, the MATI association provides the materials for the families: pipes, iron pump heads and bamboo poles. The villagers install the pumps under expert guidance. Traditionally, several related families share an inner courtyard. These communal courtyards are therefore ideal for installing pumps for several families. One pump can supply at least 15 people with clean drinking water. The families become members of a savings group and put aside EUR 0.50 per family per month for repairs to the pump. This ensures that the drinking water supply is also secured in the long term.

AboutBangladesh
Dhaka
Dhaka
Capital city
164,700,000
164,700,000
Population
3.677
3.677
Gross domestic product per capita per year
Rank 136 of 189
Rank 136 of 189
Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

Around 80 percent of the rainfall in Bangladesh occurs during the monsoon season from May to mid-October. Bangladesh has the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world.

About the organization and further information

Organisation

MATI e.V.

Website

http://www.mati-net.de

Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft

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organization

MATI eV

Website

http://www.mati-net.de

Transparent Civil Society Initiative

Further links