The Tukul

We often think of water as something that’s only needed for drinking, but there are more ways that it serves life than you can imagine.

One aspect of life that water facilitates when a well is built nearby is the construction of tukuls, the traditional hut that the South Sudanese have built for centuries.

Made of locally sourced materials, they are comprised of a thatched roof (made from poles and grass), with wooden poles and mud brick forming the circular wall.

The bricks are really the integral part of the whole structure: by mixing water with mud, cutting blocks with a spade or other tool and left to dry in the sun, rock-hard bricks are created, offering protection and a solid barrier for the tukuls.

Without these mud bricks, the community and their livestock are left vulnerable and open to attack from animals who can enter through holes in the tukul’s structure.

As you’ll see later this week, Treana actually visited one woman whose daughter had been bitten by a snake in her tukul before we had given the village a water well. Since providing them with clean water access, however, they now not only have water for drinking and food preparation, but for other household duties like brick making.