Turning on the tap and getting an unlimited supply of clean water is a privilege that many people take for granted. 

In the Albanian village of Demiraj, much like many developing regions around the world, immediate access to clean water was something villagers could only dream of. 

For twenty years, the village was without a clean water supply and villagers were forced to trek two miles to the nearest reservoir.

Most families would have tomake do with wells in their gardens where the water was often contaminated and infested with disease. 

This all changed when Islamic Relief provided the village with access to clean water in 2006. 

Five water points strategically located around the village now serve over five hundred villagers with fresh water from the mountains.

For Lumturie, a mother of five, it means she can now give her children water without the fear of disease.

“Life was very difficult before the water supply. We used to live on the water from the wells. Now the water is clean, it is some of the best water in Albania,” Lumturie told an Islamic Relief field worker.

“Before I would boil the water of the wells and then drink it – we can drink this straight, before we would fear the germs. [Now,] we can drink it without fear,” she added, thanking Islamic Relief’s donors for their support.

Please donate today to support Islamic Relief’s Water & Sanitation projects around the world.

Water & Sanitation

Water is essential for life, yet nearly a billion people lack access to a source of clean water. 

The problem is scarcity of water in some regions, while in others it is the quality of the water. 

Unclean water can be fatal as it spreads diseases and illnesses such as cholera and diarrhoea.

Poor hygiene practices and little access to proper sanitation facilities also increase risk of disease. 

Nearly fifty percent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources, according to the most current estimates of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Islamic Relief’s Water and Sanitation projects are improving the quality of millions of people’s lives around the world, while educating people about the necessity of clean water.

Besides digging wells, building water supply systems, rainwater-harvesting and constructing sanitation facilities, Islamic Relief also provides basic hygiene training and education to thousands of beneficiaries in the world’s most impoverished regions.