WaterAid exhibition tells moving tales of how clean water changes lives for Malawi's mothers

WaterAid and the Wimbledon Foundation have launched an exhibition of photography and moving imagery telling the stories of mothers and babies in Malawi who, prior to WaterAid’s intervention, suffered with poor sanitation and dirty drinking water.

The images by award-winning, British-Egyptian photographer, Laura El-Tantawy, in the exhibition: Carrying Life: Motherhood and Water in Malawi, highlight the hopes and fears of women waiting at their local shelter to give birth. Expectant mothers, and their family member "guardian" wait at these shelters in the hospital premises, before going into labour and moving to the wards. However, until WaterAid’s intervention, with support from the Wimbledon Foundation, many of these facilities lacked the clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to give birth safely.

Enala, 19, lives near Kangolwa health centre and gave birth a year ago, before the centre had clean water. She describes her experience:

“My guardian had to get water from a stream so that I could bathe and clean myself after the birth. The water was dirty and not good. I could see things settling to the bottom of the bucket...I had to use the same water to drink from. We didn’t have a choice."

56-year-old Delia has given birth 14 times, but sadly eight of her children have died, some in childhood and she lost her seven-month-old grandson to diarrhoea. She describes waking up every day worrying about water:

“Water is something I wake up every day worrying about. I have so many worries, it is like I have nowhere to run to.”

For Eliza, a young mother, who gave birth at Ntchisi district hospital before taps and toilets were installed described her experience as “the longest four days”. Now conditions have improved, she says:

“I’ve seen the new toilets – they are good. Before I couldn’t stand the sight of the toilets, women didn’t have the dignity they deserved, now it’s a really big improvement.”

El-Tantawy said: “I witnessed the women in communities around Ntchisi trying to cope without water during some of the most intense moments of their lives, as they were about to give birth. But living in communities without access to clean water is a constant stress for them.

“In Carrying Life, I wanted to explore through images the emotional toll it takes on women to wake up daily and worry about where to get water; to feel the burden that your life and your family’s life is dependent on a bucket of water and its source.”

Head of the Wimbledon Foundation, Paige Murphy, said: “It is shocking that a quarter of health centres around the world do not have clean water on site and four out of five in the poorest countries lack decent toilets.

“Carrying Life highlights the realities of giving birth without the essentials that many of us take for granted. By supporting WaterAid’s work to bring clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to all health centres around the world, we hope to save lives and give women and babies a better chance of a healthy future.”

Carrying Life is the first photo collaboration between international charity WaterAid and its partner, the Wimbledon Foundation, which has been supporting WaterAid’s work since 2017. Launched ahead of International Women’s Day, the exhibition aims to celebrate the dignity and strength of women in Ntchisi district, Malawi, whilst also drawing attention to the stark realities that nearly one in four healthcare facilities in Malawi are without clean water on site, leaving mothers and babies at risk of deadly infections.

WaterAid has now provided these essentials in ten clinics in Ntchisi, four of which were provided with funding from the Wimbledon Foundation, official charity of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and The Championships, supporting the installation of taps and toilets. This means that women can now give birth free from the worry of infection caused by a lack of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

Carrying Life: Motherhood and Water in Malawi is free to the public and will be open daily at Riverside, More London, from 3 March to 14 April 2023.

To find out more and donate: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/stories/carrying-life

Download photos: HERE