The lower Jelah village is one of the villages of al-Sham sub-district of Aslam in the Governorate of Hajjah. According to the 2004 census, the population of this village were 157 people in 27 families. There are 26 houses in the village, where most of the inhabitants rely on agriculture as their main source of income.

Hardship

Water supply is a major problem in this village, especially in the dry season. Despite the existence of a manual well, 500 meters away from the village, the well is shallow and highly dependent on rainfall.

700 YR

The child, Anwar Mahdi, 14, remembers two years ago when he used to wait from 7 clock in the evening to 3 clock in the morning  in the water well to fill a 10 liter water container. He said at times, he wouldn’t be able to fill half of that container due to the scarcity of water. He added that the price of a 20 liter water container cost anywhere from 500 - 700 YR, and a person, at times, may be forced to travel for one and half hour to get to the closest water well to fetch water. This problem had forced the children to drop out of schools or make them unable to attend regular classes.

Joy

PWP made a field visit to the lower Jelah Village to work out a solution. The field study lead to a decision to build a rainwater harvesting reservoir to supply the village with the needed water supply during the dry season. The proposed rainwater harvesting reservoir is expected to provide sufficient water supply for the villager’s domestic use and for animals.

Safe

By providing enough water for their use, according to Mahfouz Saleh - one of the villagers, villagers can now feel safe. He  also said it would reduce the burden on women and children who had to travel long distances to fetch water.

Mahfouz said peoples’ lives will improve since the water reservoir will make water available for both human and animal consumption. Now, farmers will no longer be forced to sell their domestic animals for petty prices due to the lack of water, he said.