KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian peace foundation announced on Monday that it was beginning plans to develop Somalia's water industry in order to provide new wells to the war-torn Horn of Africa country. The Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) said that it would provide funding and implementation of a large amount of resources in order to provide clean water facilities to Somalia. Foundation trustee Ahmad A. Talib said the people in Somalia deserved better water facilities. He recently returned to Malaysia after spending 6 days in Somalia. “They are relying on wells for their daily water supply and some of these wells have been around for more than 300 years. But these wells are very deep and need a good pump system,” he told reporters in a prepared statement on Monday. “In our recent visit, we helped to fit new pumps at three wells. We plan to help them to build more wells in Mogadishu when we go back there in three to four months.” The lengthy traveling by Somalis, often up to 20 kilometers, to collect clean water struck him while on the trip, leading his organization to develop the plan to provide a number of wells to reduce the travel time and hardship for residents. Talib and three others from PGPF met a number of Somali society, including orphans, blind students and the disabled. “The purpose of our visit was to monitor the situation there and identify how best we can assist them,” he said. A visit to the Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy)'s health center revealed a steady stream of people – between 80 and 120 patients daily – getting their medicines from the facility, said the trustee. The situation in Mogadishu, he added, had “started to improve as people could move around and businesses had resumed.” Another PGPF senior associate, Fauziyah Abu Hassan, said Malaysians, especially youth, should “never take the peace” they have for granted. “It is easy to destroy a nation but it will take years to rebuild it. My heart sank looking at the deplorable conditions in Somalia. But I admire the fighting spirit of the elders and the children there,” she began. “They continue to make their presence felt by reminding the world that Somalia is still around and will remain so.” The organization did not give details of the water project or when construction of the new wells would begin.
