Experiences of girls involved in domestic water collection and transportation in Ngwale parish Pallisa district

Abstract

ABSTRACT Girls are the primary collectors of water. They wake up as early as 5:00am to go to different water sources to collect water. The burden of fetching water has been transferred from mothers to children especially girls. The main objective of the study is to examine experiences of girl children in water collection and transportation in Ngwale Parish Pallisa District from June to August 2017 because it is enough time for me to collect data... The specific objectives were to; examine time girls take fetching water, to assess experiences of girls on the burden of collecting water, to explore the risks around the process of water collection and transportation. The analysis is based on an exploratorydesign that used ethnographic methods like participant observation, in depth interviews, field notes, grounded theory. Data collected showed that girls carried out water collection using 20 liter jerry cans and spent over 6 hours, faced risks of falling off bicycles, being beaten by snakes, raped and physical assault like being beaten from boreholes and other sources by adults and fellow children. They also faced health risks of stiff strained and painful necks. In conclusion girls bear the burden of collecting water, because the culture demands it among other factors like time, distance and terrain, there are also economic factors where fathers are not in position to provide enough containers for water collection, storage, and pay porters to haul water home as the girls concentrate in school while the mothers are out there looking for money and taking care of other businesses