Meet Ruqia: an 11-year old school girl who attends the Bibi Halima Girls School in the Emran Kot area of the municipality of Khost, in Afghanistan. She is the daughter of a poor family whose father goes out daily to find employment as a day-laborer.

In this picture, Ruqia is filling a bucket with water – water from a simple faucet in her home. Prior to March 2008, Ruqia’s responsibilities included bringing water from a community standpipe located hundreds of meters from her home in Khost. The constant need for water by her family and the distance she must walk to get the water prevented Ruqia from attending school. 

Now, as a result of the USAID-funded Afghanistan Municipal Strengthening Program and the water supply project ICMA implemented in Khost, Ruqia and other children in her community have returned to school. 

“We are so grateful to have our children go back to school instead of having to carry the water from so far away,” one homeowner expressed. He also added that “The water piped into our houses is safe and prevents outbreak of water-borne diseases.”