Hansli’s Story

If her family had a rain-water collection tank like this they could collect some of the water and store it for later. The tank is in the middle of a sloping saucer-shaped piece of ground, covered with clay. The water runs into the tank through a filter to keep out the sand and rubbish. The tanks are built close to the houses so it's not so far to carry the water home.

 

In May and June it is very hot where Hansli lives – hotter than our hottest summer days. Strong dry winds blow the sand about and most people stay indoors. Close your eyes for a minute and make a picture in your mind. Hansli is lying quietly inside her house because it's so hot. She can hear the wind howling outside. It even blows some sand in through the doorway. The goats are huddled under their shelter. They are bleating because they're thirsty. Hansli’s throat is dry and her lips are cracked because there's only a little bit of water to share with her brothers and sisters. She's desperate for a drink. She feels even more thirsty than you do after playing outside on a hot sunny day!

 

 

 

 

Hansli lives in a desert village in India. She is about eight years old. Her house is made of straw and mud with a hard mud floor.  Round her village is a thorn hedge to keep out wild animals. In the summer the wind often blows the dust around so that it gets into everything: your eyes, your mouth, your food. Hansli ends up looking very grubby!

 

She wakes up very early every morning when she hears her mother leave the house to go and fetch water from the well. She gets up straight away, rubs her sleepy eyes and pulls her fingers through her tangled hair. While her mother is away Hansli has to look after her younger brothers and sisters and tidy up the house. She works hard all day helping her mother. 

Hansli's mother has walked a long, long way across the soft sand to find water. She took two empty pots and a bucket with her. Now she is hot and tired and her back aches from balancing the full water pots on her head.  Hansli is glad she didn't have to help today. It's very hard to carry a bucket full of water without spilling it. Her mother puts the water pots inside the house where the water is stored. The water from the well often looks brown and tastes salty.

 

There is no tap in Hansli's house. Every drop of water for drinking, cooking and washing comes from the well, and is carried several miles. It only rains in India during our summer holidays. The rainy season is called the monsoon. Some times there are heavy rain-storms and everyone is glad! Hansli watches the rain make streams across the dry, hard ground.

When there’s no rain tractor tankers take water to the villages to fill up the water storage tanks so that families have water for drinking, cooking and giving to their animals. Families with no water tank bring all their pots and buckets to the tanker to be filled with water. Everyone helps to carry the pots home. They are happy because they can have a drink but they have to make the water last until the tractor tanker comes again.

Remember Hansli when you use water at home. Water is very precious to her. She is careful with every drop. You can help children like Hansli to have a drink when they're thirsty. If you put 1p in a jar every time you turn on the tap at home and when its full send it  to Wells for India we will help children like Hansli to have clean water.