Now that the Columnist has resumed we want to remind the readership that the column is meant to monitor and report on issues that concerns the people of the rural communities in terms of how their development is hindered or facilitated, and that rural development is a process that aims to improve the standard of living of people living in those communities.
According to Robert chambers, rural development is a strategy that enables a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, gain for themselves and their children, more of what they want and need.
The group includes small scale farmers, tenants and the landless.
Thus, the term rural development may be used to imply any one of the above-mentioned connotations.
Increasing the population’s access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, dramatically reduces their susceptibility to water-borne diseases and increases their likelihood, especially for women and children, from incurring additional expenses related to treatment.
However, there are villages in the Gambia that are finding it difficult to get clean drinking water.
In the last edition, we highlighted the views of the residents of Sinchu Pallen village in Sabach Sanjal District of the North Bank Region of the Gambia.
The villagers who spoke to the columnist on a recent visit to the area, said they travel to neighboring villages to get water, because there is not fit for drinking; that they travel to Yalaba to get safe drinking water every day.
Fatou Joof asserted that they travel daily to get portable water compounding their drudgery; that their major problem in the village is water even though the neighboring village which is less than one kilometer away, has a bore-hole.
Fatou called on both the Central and Local Government Authorities to help them minimize their drudgery, by addressing the water crisis.