Hello, my name is Kaia Rose Podiaup and I am the Ward 17 counsellor for Kido village in Central Province.
Life in Kido village is hard but the men and women do what they can for their families to get by, but for the Kido women it is difficult when it comes to fetching water for their homes and for the gardens.
The gardens are not within walking distance, as this feat requires the need to paddle a few kilometers via canoe or get on a dinghy for an approximate two-hour ride.
A major difficulty faced is the fetching of water. This strenuous process takes up the energy of people young and old climbing up a steep and rocky hill only to tread downhill again to collect gallons of water. This activity takes up almost the whole day leaving the villagers enough daylight to sort household affairs before it gets dark, as Kido has been without electricity for years.
The water fetched caters for cooking, washing, drinking and gardening, and each person carries at least 50ltrs or more each going back and forth until each house has their required amount of water to hold them till the next lot is needed.
This exhausting exercise is a norm for the village and for so long we have wanted assistance just to ease the pains of this reality. In answer to our pleas, a wonderful community service leader, NiuPower Ltd assisted Kido village with the provision of six, 9000-liter water tanks, with one tank allocated to support five houses.
NiuPower’s support in providing these much-needed resources has brought about happiness in the village and there is word that six more tanks are expected soon, reducing the number of houses per tank.
Education is vital for everyone no matter the life setting. At Kido, because we are community based, our young women and girls are expected to return to the village, marry, and look after their elderly and their in-laws.
This is because not all can afford to go back into the city and try to acquire employment because their in-laws are in the village and require their entire support in and around the home.
To empower and encourage them that there is more than the life afforded them, NiuPower Ltd supplied us with manual sewing machines and life training skills workshops that will teach them a skillset to benefit them and their families.
We hope for more initiatives like this and more to teach and help our women and young girls for the future.