Before the water communities were formed

• water in Tanzania was precious.
• More than 50% of Tanzanians had little to no access to safe drinking water.
• They only had dams, water holes and streams
• This led to illness', contaminated and dirty water
• Women and children would collect water daily, walking up to 10km each day.
• Children are not attending school because they have to go collect water for their families

After the water communities were formed

• 16,000 people in Tanzania had access to clean water
• Construction, number of water tanks, store water was pumped from a reservoir.
• No one has to walk more than 500m to collect water
• Improved lives: - less/no exhaustion - improved drinking, washing, cleaning and cooking water
• Can improve income, grow vegetable gardens - better diets, they can sell what they don't eat
• With there being more plants because they have water to grow, there is no more erosion
• Improved toilet facilities and increases regular bathing/ washing which reduces the risk of disease and illness.
• Increased attendance at school as children don't have to waste time collecting water
• Students are more focused
• Increased/ better education

Supports:

• Tanzania
• Organisations such as Caritas that work with local communities to help them get better access to safe drinking water.
• All the villages form a 'water community', a group of members of the community who do the decision making on behalf of their village.
• These groups have both men and women, so it encourages gender equality among the community, as women are seen as valuable because they have a job and major role in the community.
• The communities are trained on the safety and general ongoing maintenance of the water container.
• Caritas provides the resources
• The village and communities do the building]
• Villages and communities then have access to safe drinking water. Storage tanks, pipes, taps.
  

Supports:

• Services/ programs such as link up, which started in 1999, provide services to reconnect people who were a part of the stolen generation with their families.
• They provide financial support, reunion services, and the reconnection of families.
• They also provide counsellors that provide relief for clients who are struggling with the grief of there being the possibility of the not being enough records to find families.
• They have case workers who work with the clients and do the research into a clients family history and records. They look for birth certificates, family births/ deaths/ marriages, records in institutions/ universities/ schools.
• They work with 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation members of the stolen generation at link up.

History:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were removed from their families from pretty much the first day of European settlement
• Governments tried to 'civilise and train' them into becoming a part of the stolen generation.
• children were often stolen in hospitals and mothers were told that their child had passed away or was very sick and would have to stay there.
• Children grew up thinking that they didnt have any parents or that their parents didn't want them.
• Children were taken to foster homes and new families, and were raised to not ask about their original, indigenous families, which can now bring a great deal of shame when not knowing about their family, or where they were from.

Organisations such as 'Link Up'

• Link up gets people coming to them, but they are now able to go to schools and communities to try and explain about link up and to hopefully find more clients that they can help out.
• Pretty much, the only other way that people would know or find out about link up is by word of mouth.
• Some people who go to link up as clients don't actually know if they are aboriginal or Torres Strait islander.