Girls roll with water collection in India

Using push-along water barrels to transport water in India is transforming the lives of thousands of women and girls.
Women still carry most of the world's water and shoulder the daily burden of transporting heavy buckets of water to their communities. The sight of long lines of young girls making their way to the closest well and returning with pails balanced on their heads is still common in Indian villages.
Not only are many girls kept from school to fetch water for their household - missing out on vital education - but carrying heavy pails of water on a daily basis can affect their physical development and cause musculoskeletal issues and injuries.
The impact of water scarcity on the education of girls in rural India has prompted a charity called Wells on Wheels (WoW) to distribute free Water Wheels in rural areas. The kit consists of a round water drum fitted with a handle, that can be easily rolled on the ground, instead of being carried on the head.
It holds 45 litres of water, five times as much water as a single bucket, thus reducing the number of trips needed to fetch water.

WOW was founded by UK marketer Shaz Memon after the birth of his daughter.
"It was the birth of my daughter five years ago that inspired me to ask a relative back in India to provide local families with essentials for their babies. While discussing this with him on a video call, I saw long lines of young girls going to fetch water in the background," explained Mamon.
"For him, it was a sight that was commonplace. For me, it was a heartbreaking one. I could not imagine the plight of a young girl having to miss out on school just because she had to spend hours in the blazing heat making several trips to fetch water from the nearest source of potable water."

Initially set up as a crowdfunding initiative in June 2019, Wells on Wheels is a non profit organisation that identifies poor families in villages across India and supplies them with free Water Wheels.
Wells on Wheels is a registered charity that has so far transformed the lives of many girls in villages across India. Providing rolling barrels to areas throughout India means they can now pull water from wells back to their communities in just one journey instead of four to five, freeing up time for young girls and boys to attend the village school and giving them an opportunity to have a brighter future.
WOW wants to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
"I could not imagine the plight of a young girl having to miss out on school just because she had to spend hours in the blazing heat making several trips to fetch water from the nearest source of potable water."
Memon's goal is to change the lives of one million women and girls by 2025. It is estimated that at least 2000 girls are now attending school regularly as an outcome of his efforts.