HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Recently, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) rehabilitated Naminaue’s borehole, installing solar lighting to make collection safer, especially for women. The impact was felt immediately.

“Before, the water was so salty it ruined our food,” Merina says. “Even cooking took forever. Now we drink it without fear and meals take less firewood to prepare. This water is good.”

Marco, another displaced resident, recalls that families went more than three years without a working borehole. His wife used to walk long distances twice a day, balancing a 30-litre bucket on her head.

“She had to wait until the crowds cleared before bringing back what we needed for our daily use,” he says.

The salty water scarred daily life. It corroded pots, made staple foods like xima, a maize porridge, almost inedible, and irritated skin after bathing.

“You’d wash and your body would dry out and itch,” Marco explains. “The salt left a white layer on our skin.”

This burden of carrying water, often involving long walks and heavy loads, usually falls on women and girls. It dictates their routines and cuts into time for school, income, or rest.

Merina and Marco’s stories echo across northern Mozambique. Only about half the country’s population has basic access to clean water, despite its abundant rivers and long coastline.

In conflict-affected areas, repeated attacks and cyclones have damaged supply systems, contaminating wells and pipelines.

Without clean water, hygiene standards drop, water-borne diseases spread, and tensions rise between displaced families and host communities competing for scarce resources.

Jacinto, now head of the borehole committee, also fled his home during violent attacks. He remembers crossing fields and rivers at night and sleeping on wet ground.

“We buried our children in the bush,” he says quietly. “They died of hunger while we were hiding.”

Today, the borehole has transformed daily life in Naminaue. Women gather several times a day to collect water and exchange concerns. Yet demand remains high.

“We ask partners to add more wells,” Merina says. “With so many families using one, it may break again.”

In northern Mozambique, access to clean water is not a luxury but a condition for survival. For families like Merina’s in Naminaue, each drop drawn from the borehole is a step away from years of scarcity and a step toward stability.

“Please don’t let our story disappear,” she says. “Tell it to the people who can bring us help.”

This story was written by Amanda Nero, Media and Communications Officer with IOM Mozambique.