Macedonia: A glass of health for the children

The Mustafof family now has clean water right next to the house.

Edzevit and Anka Mustafof, residents of a small Macedonian village near Skopje, have finally been able to give their children what they call ‘a glass of health’. Last year, they connected their house to the municipal water pipe, and the family started drinking clean water.

For years the Mustafofs have been drawing water from a self-dug well. “After our grandfather underwent his third surgery to remove kidney stones, I knew that my children were drinking unhealthy water”, shares Edzevit.

Eight members of the family, Erzevit, his wife, their four children and his parents, are all living together in a small house in the municipality of Vasilevo. Their income comes from a small plot of land that they own. They sell at a local market whatever they manage to grow and harvest on their miniscule farm. Very often, it is not enough to cover even their basic expenses. After the collapse of the centrally planned economy in the country, rural families have found it hard to keep pace with the growing costs of life. Big families in the village do not have spare money. Thus, connecting their house to a proper water source is something of a luxury for them.

After the Mustafofs had discovered that the water from the well was not good for drinking, they stopped using it. However, that did not solve the problem. They had to draw water from the main village pump. Going back and forth to fetch water turned into a demanding task, complicated even more in winter months when it was cold, and the slippery roads made it harder to walk with full buckets of water.

Last year, the family took a loan to connect their house to the municipal water pipe. Now they have clean water right next to the house. The loan was provided by Habitat for Humanity Macedonia that works together with many municipalities in the country. Although Habitat is a house-building NGO that seeks to find solutions to housing needs, it has come to realize that in many places attributes of a simple and decent home can mean simply access to clean drinking water. Habitat runs water projects not only in Macedonia but also in Tajikistan and Bulgaria.

Now the Mustafofs feel what a difference clean drinking water makes. “Although our children are small enough to realize it, I hope that one day they will appreciate what we have done. Not a single toy I can give them for Christmas will match the gift of health they received last year”, says Erzevit with pride.

What is next?
Habitat wants people not only to read about poverty housing but do something to fight it. You can support Habitat’s work in Europe and Central Asia in a number of ways. Here are some examples:

• Visit our donations page to support projects in Macedonia.
• Go to country profile pages to learn about other programs in this country.

If you wish to receive monthly news updates, please subscribe to our E-newsletters