WASH & International Development Specialist

Why WASH?

Whenever I reflect on my childhood, like oil above water, certain scenes rush to the surface. I see pictures of escape, images of fear, a slideshow of thousands of people walking through the streets, belongings overhead, and terrified children clutching their hands.

From the year I turned 2, until my 16th birthday, my country Liberia was at war. With up to 85 percent of Liberia’s tap water infrastructure destroyed during the 14-year civil conflict, a resulting daily childhood chore was to fetch water from wells and handpumps several blocks away. These early life experiences—queuing at wells, carrying heavy containers overhead, pushing jerrycans in rickety wheelbarrows—would later chart my career path in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

Years later, during a visit to the slums of the capital, Monrovia, I would have the epiphany that would further concretize my decision. Twenty years later, this remains the unfortunate reality for millions worldwide.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) promise the aspiration of universal access to safe drinking for all by 2030. That is, water from a tap or handpump that by design and construction is a) located on-premises, b) available when needed and c) free from contamination—meaning chemically and bacteriologically tested. While current figures show that 71 percent of the global population has access to this “safely managed water,” a closer review of the data shows that Africa is being left behind.

My aspiration as a professional is to help change the narrative.