Dodging hippos along the Niger river, photographer Aisha Augie-Kuta reached the remote village of Norandé. It is here that she connected with a community that, despite its proximity to the river, faces a daily struggle for clean water.
Despite the countries’ shared border, what Augie-Kuta saw was a far cry from that back home in Nigeria. With ox carts carrying water from the river through the dry landscape, she says travelling to the region is going back in time compared with her modern home in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.
In Niger, nine out of 10 people do not have a decent toilet and half the population does not have access to safe water. Drinking dirty water from the Niger river exposed people in Norandé to potentially fatal diseases, including cholera and diarrhoea, as well as regular bouts of stomach pain and dermatitis.
Recently, a borehole for drinking water was drilled, and the village now has working latrines. But the community is still in need, as drought threatens their still-limited water supply.
SOURCE:BBCNEWS