In the barren desert of Tharpakar, where desolate dunes spread across thousands of miles and living beings are a sight for sore eyes, Issiya Begum walks five kilometres, barefoot, every day to fetch water.

The water, which is most often substituted with life, has given the 28-year-old a lifelong disability — a condition where her back is permanently bent. The incident occurred some years back when Issiya Begum was transporting water-filled clay pots from the nearby well to her home.

Like other Thari women, Issiya too is in charge of fetching water for her house. But one day, her frail back couldn’t bear the burden any more and caved in forever. That did not stop her from “fulfilling her responsibility” though, and the arduous journeys continue day in and day out.

Studies show that 72 per cent of women across Pakistan — especially in rural areas — are responsible for carrying household water and spend nearly three-fourths of their day in the exercise. The almost nine-hour-long job, without a single day off, not only affects the livelihood of these women but also their mental and physical health.

For young girls, these gender-bound responsibilities snatch their already dwindling chance at education. However, the women of Thar and other areas that stand in the face of a water crisis don’t have a choice and they have come to terms with it — after all, water is life.

But when Nida Sheikh, an economics and development graduate, visited the area, the “inhumane practice” of fetching water deeply disturbed her and prompted her to transform adversity into an opportunity.

The first time Sheikh visited rural Sindh and Punjab was for a project on female entrepreneurship. But by the end of the trip, she had identified a pattern — most women were unable to even take a nap or socialise in the quest for water.

“In most of these areas, I came across marginalised women who were walking for kilometres and spending hours only to fetch a basic need,” she told Dawn.com. “Even when they........

© Dawn Prism