Islanders get water to homes

By DOROTHY MARK
Nearly 2000 people in two different villages on Karkar Island have water supplied to their doorsteps for the first time since 1982.
Liloi and Wakon villagers celebrated on Saturday when Sumkar MP Chris Nangoi opened the taps which were funded by the district development authority.
Village ward councillor Kob Lileb said villagers, especially women, had been carrying water from the Bilani Creek several kilometres.
Lileb said it took him 11 years to fight for the village water project and was thankful it had been finally delivered.
He said former Sumkar MP Ken Fairweather had committed K100,000 but it did not materialise.
“We only received three 2000-litre water tanks,” Lileb said.
He said when Nangoi took office, he honoured Fairweather’s commitment and allocated K50,000 to get the project off the ground.
The villagers bought four 9000-litre tanks that could supply 36,000 litres of water to the Liloi and Wakon villages.
Lileb said they would need 98,000 litres to supply the whole village.
Women representative Weing Bebai said women faced a lot of hardship when they went looking for water.
Bebai described women as “camels, carrying water containers one on top of another and walking for hours before reaching their village”.
“Women from other villages argued with us and embarrassed us in front of others when we go to their areas to fetch water,” she said.
Bebai thanked the Government and Nangoi for helping them with the water project.
They connected 15 water taps to locations in the villages.
“At least we don’t walk anymore for hours and now have water within our reach,” Bebai said.