‘Mama Kanga’: Nigeria’s well woman keeps the water flowing
INSPIRATION While Nigeria struggles to meet the water needs of its people, a woman defies social norms to quench thirsts in her neighbourhood by digging wells for them
Fortified by a faith in God and a Guinness stout –or a tot of something stronger – Ololade Rabiu reckons she must have dug hundreds of wells in her time. But the 46-year-old mother of six is a rarity in Nigeria, where forging deep into the red earth to find precious drinking water has historically been a male preserve.
“I am extremely happy that I am the only woman so far in this profession of well-drilling. I love and enjoy it,” she says at her home in Igbogbo.
“There is no well I cannot drill or enter,” she said proudly. Parts of Nigeria are crippled by over-burdened and neglected infrastructure, with safe, clean drinking water in particularly short supply.
A study by the capital city Lagos’ water corporation found that the city’s 18 million people needed 2.5 billion litres against actual production of just 210 million gallons in 2010.
It has vowed to dramatically increase production to 745 million gallons per day by 2020, by which time the city is expected to be home to 29 million people.
But in the meantime, households are forced to rely on tanker deliveries for their water or private wells.
Purification to eliminate disease is not guaranteed and street vendors selling “sachet” water in cellophane bags are a common sight -- as are the discarded empty packets on the streets. The shortfalls in supply mean there is plenty of business for well diggers like Rabiu, who first began drilling for water in 1997.
She learnt her craft from her Ghanaian husband, Ajiraku, and has since carved out a niche for herself along with a nickname in the Yoruba language, “Mama Kanga” – “the well woman”. “The beginning was difficult but now I have overcome my fright and I have made a success of my chosen career,” she explains.
“I learnt all the rudiments of well-drilling: how to locate the water bed, determine depth, how much to charge, the implements to be used and how to overcome challenges.”
Neighbours and clients are full of praise for her ability, which once saw her drill to a depth of 40 metres in the Akute area of Ogun state.
“She drilled my well seven years ago and she did it so well that I have so far had no problem with it,” says Ben Kunle Omodein, from Igbogbo.
“She is gifted in the art. I am sure she does it better than many men,” said her former landlord, Yisa Abdul.
Rabiu’s husband died last month but she says that the setback would not stop her working. The job is backbreaking, she admits, but adds, “Nothing gives me as much pleasure as digging wells.”