The Women Empowerment Solution Initiative (WESI), a national organization operating in the Bahr el Ghazal region, last Friday concluded a 14-day training for water hand pump mechanics, hygiene promotion, and business skills in Lakes State.
The training, held in Rumek, was attended by 20 participants drawn from the seven counties of Lakes State.
Simon Buud Gai, the WESI executive director, said they empower women through these skills so that they can earn money to sustain their families while ensuring there is safe water.
“WESI started operations in Warrap, Aweil, and Wau, and has currently extended to Lakes State, where we trained 20 participants, 10 women and 10 men, across seven counties. The project addresses gaps, and I hope our communities will enjoy safe water,” he said. “During his 14-day training, we taught the participants about hygiene promotion, water pump repair, spare parts identification, and trauma healing, which is important because a traumatized person cannot work.”
“We also trained the participants in business skills because we have a microfinance institution which will be involved with water points, and that is where the women will be empowered,” Buud added.
Angelina John Awodo, the women’s representative of the participants from Cueibet County, told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that she learned business skills, hygiene promotion, and pump mechanics.
“I have learned about pump mechanics because water causes a lot of problems and diseases.” She said. “When I return home, I will help repair hand pumps or boreholes based on the skills and knowledge that I have learned from this training.”
Another participant, Easter Peter Kulong Gum, a mother of three who represented the participants from Wulu County, said she wanted to learn about repairing pumps because women are the ones who suffer most when there is water scarcity.
“I can now repair anything related to a hand pump,” she stated. “The time when only men maintained boreholes is in the past.
For his part, Robert Kal Majok, a representative of participants from Yirol West County, said he acquired skills in hygiene promotion, trauma healing, business, and hand pump mechanics.
“We were equipped with tools and spare parts to fix boreholes in our communities, and we appreciate WESI for the good work they are doing in Lakes State,” he said. “My work is to give the community clean and safe drinking water to reduce diseases.
Meanwhile, Samuel Aberic Makur, Deputy Chairperson of the State Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), who spoke at the closing of the training, said spare parts for borehole hand pumps must always be purchased and available to rehabilitate the broken ones across the state.
“As the RRC, we like this initiative because our role is to monitor and evaluate any program being implemented at the community level,” he said. “This is a very important training, and the important thing is that women have been empowered. We want national NGOs to fill the gaps in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector.”
Dut Majok, the director of water and sanitation in the state, stated that the purpose of this workshop is for the WESI women’s empowerment initiative to close the gaps in the sector, as many boreholes have broken down across the state.
“This is rehearsal training for hand pump mechanics, and I think by January 2026, they will kick off their program,” he said. “After this refresher training, the participants will go and implement what they have learned.