Water shortage fuels domestic violence

Women carry jerrycans of water in Muhumule Village, Nyakatonzi Sub-county, Kasese District early this month. Women in the district say the lack of access to clean and safe water has caused violence in their homes. PHOTOS/CAESAR ABANGIRAH
What you need to know:
- The Basongora community is struggling with a lack of clean water, which has led to serious challenges. Women and girls face gender-based violence, health problems, and heavy burden, while children’s education suffers because they spend hours fetching water.
“A woman who has not bathed is not a woman.” This is a statement made by men while accusing their wives of being disgusting to justify sexual abandonment. The statement is one of the major lamentations among many women in the Basongora communities in Kasese District as they narrate their ordeal over lack of clean and safe water.
Ms Fridah Sibiyani, a resident of Busunga Village in Busongora County South in Kasese District, says the lack of water has caused violence in their homes. “You sleep without bathing and a man [your husband] abandons you because you are dirty and smelly, with dirty bed sheets and small clothes we use in beds,” she says while appealing to authorities to provide safe water facilities to better their lives and curb violence in homes.
Ms Sibiyani narrates that due to the lack of clean water, their children go to school without bathing and sometimes sleep without washing their bodies because the little water that they get is used to prepare food. “We do not have peace in Busunga because of the lack of water, which is an important thing in our lives. Even our girls find a problem when it comes to their menstrual cycles. It becomes more expensive because we have to buy water and then sanitary clothes for their prop[1]er hygiene,” she laments. Ms Sibiyani adds: “Our girls are being raped while travelling long distances to fetch water from unsafe sources. They get so tired and arrive late at school be[1]cause of the long distances, which affects their performance in class.”
Ms Aidah Isekyereza, a resident of Muhumule Village in Nyakatonzi Sub-county, says they are experiencing gender-based violence (GBV) in their homes because of the lack of water. “If a man finds when you have not washed his clothes or prepared food in time, they become violent thinking you just disobeyed or are too lazy to do housework yet it is because of lack of wa[1]ter,” she says.
According to Ms Isekyereza, children have to fetch water from far away and are punished for being late at school as a result. She says: “When our children fail to perform in class, it gets back to us women because our husbands blame the poor performance on us and sometimes this leads to violence.”

Some of the women during a meeting with media practitioners from Water and Environment Media Network Uganda in Muhumule Village, Nyakatonzi Sub-county, Kasese District early this month
Ms Jane Kokuzaanisa, a councillor at the Kasese District local government, explains that efforts to bring water clos[1]er to the people have failed because the dams were built without consulting locals about the best locations. She adds that due to the long distances girls and women have to walk to fetch clean water, areas such as Greater Munkunyu in Nyakatonzi Sub-county and Kinyamaseke Town Council have the youngest mothers in the district, as many girls face sexual abuse during these journeys.
“In our village, the main source of clean water is a borehole where children go to fetch water after school in the evening. Because of the big number of people gathering for water at a time, the problems of rape arise at night,” says Ms Kokuzaanisa, who is also a secretary at the district.
She says: “In our culture, women do not fetch water, but waiting for men who have gone to rare cattle and finding water for the animals very far is hard. If you wait for their water, housework will be done at night and food served late, which causes quarrels, fights and other misunderstandings between a husband and a wife.”
The Basongora women made the remarks while meeting media practitioners from Water and Environment Media Network Uganda in Kasese. According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, about 30 percent of the population in Uganda does not have access to clean and safe water. Article 39 of the Constitution provides that “every Ugandan has a right to a clean and healthy environment.” This includes a right to access clean and safe water. A section of men admits that lack of clean water has caused them many problems, including gender-based violence in their homes.
“Imagine a man spending a day in the bush rearing cattle and comes back in the evening and finds no water at home, what happens? Imagine a child walking about two kilometres to look for water and so many things happen to a girl child along the way. Do you expect a child who has walked for that long to perform in class?” Mr Edward Mburara, a local, asks.
Basongora cultural leader Ndahura Kashagama says the financial strain of caring for sick family members, combined with the stress of ongoing health issues often weakens the social bonds within families and communities. He adds that in some cases, the pressure for water leads to emotional and physical violence, as individuals struggle to cope with the burden.
Mr Kashagama says although the area is endowed with many rivers, the locals have no access to clean water for both domestic and farm use. This causes hygiene challenges, leading to the outbreak of diseases. “We are the most heavily watered district in Uganda but what is lacking is simple piped water and treatment plants. They can set up treatment plants along the river and then pump water to the communities. Boreholes are not an answer for water management in this area,” he adds.