The village of Osakatana is located in Kurudugolla, 9km from the city of Kandy and home to 97 low income families. These households receive water via a pipeline once in every 2-3 days. The poorest of these families do not have pipelines to their homes; resulting in a daily walk of up to several kilometres daily to collect water.

In July this year, the Muslim Aid Sri Lanka office stepped into provide these families with a well and a water supply scheme that would provide water to these families. The cost of the project was equivalent to about 3 million Sri Lankan Rupees. Construction of the well commenced in mid July and was carried out by partner organisation, the Young Men’s Muslim Association (YMMA).

Last week in the presence of Muslim Aid Sri Lanka’s Acting Country Director Faizer Khan and Head of Programmes Fahim Wahab, the well was handed over to the villagers. The well is located in a valley, and villagers have to walk down the hill (approximately 100 meters) to draw water from the well. The next phase of the project is to construct the water supply scheme that will carry water from the well via pipelines to the homes of the 97 families, enabling maximum use of the well.