ASUD FOR CLEAN WATER IN NQUMAYO AND CHIMA VILLAGES
By Okomaatani Kayenda
A visit to Nqumayo, a village in Ng’ongo Area, Tradional Authority Mthwalo, revealed that there is no source of not just clean and safe water but literally any water in the village. People in his village travel a distance of approximately 2 kilometers to find a well which is located in a stream towards the edge of the village. All the 102 families, each with 5 members on average rely on that well which is not even protected. If they want to find water from a borehole then they have to travel to another village which is 2 and half kilometers away.
A well from which Nqumayo village draws water
Narrating the challenges regarding water, a 73 year old woman, Tereza Kamanga, lamented that the water they drink is not safe as they share with animals since. “The well is not covered and anything goes there freely. We aresurviving by the grace of God.” She said. Conflicts are another common occurrence in this area. This is because women fight for water at the well as there are three villages sharing the same well. This leads to a situation where women and girls abuse each other verbally and physically a thing that sometimes draws men in. Tereza revealed that at times the owners of the borehole that they rely on which she said is two and half kilometers away do put a lock on their borehole to prevent them from using it until they pay money. She said that they have seen marriages shaking because the husband suspected that his wife did not delay at the well but that rather she was engaged in some promiscuous acts along the way. This she said has led to gender based violence.
This problem of water in Nqumayo seems to be a tragedy to school going kids especially girls. Children in this area walk about 5 kilometers to reach Ngo’ongo Primary School. However, before going to school, girls have to go and fetch water from this well. That means they have to walk a total of seven kilometers every morning before attending the first class. Most of the times girls miss classes as they arrive at the school late after wasting time at the well. Girls from Nqumayo village explained that they are usually tired by the time they arrive at school and this makes it very difficult to concentrate on classes. This is on top of being punished by teachers for late coming which affects them badly. Sometimes girls sleep in class due to fatigue. On top of that some girls miss classes because there was no enough water for them to bath at home and they are ashamed to go to school without taking a bath. Speaking on the problems that they face due to lack of a source of water closer to houses, a standard 4 girl, Martha Nqumayo, 12, says that the most dangerous thing that she does every day is to walk through a forest to go to the well and back. She says she is always afraid when walking through the forest alone.
People (including little boys and girls) pass through a forest to reach the well Another village where ASUD operates and is facing a similar problem of lack of safe water is Chima village. Located 6km North East of Ng’ongo in the area of Traditional Authority Mtwalo, like a queen, Chima Village sits on a beautiful rolling ridge. It is inhabited by 140 families with an average of five members each according to Village headman Chima. All these people in this village draw water from a stream called Kafulamchenga that coils in the eastern edge of the ridge. Visiting the stream on the 11th of November 2022 only shallow wells that the people of Chima dug on the sand of the river bed could be seen. One could not need to be told that the water cattle close by waiting for their turn to drink from the same well.
Ngwira: How can we sleep knowing girls are walking 2 kilometer in the forest to fetch water every day? ASUD will not relent until these people get boreholes.
was a threat to human lives in that there were Commenting on the situation in Nqumayo and Chima villages, the director of Action for Sustainable Development, Mr. Thomas Ngwira, said that the water problem antagonizes the main objectives of their organization in the area. He stated that with no reliable source of water, the backyard garden initiative is not possible; piggery is a problem as pigs need enough water for drinking and for cleaning their houses and bodies. If all these initiatives collapse, then food security will be a farfetched dream. In the end our children in this area will not progress with their education. “How can we sleep knowing girls are walking 2 kilometer in the forest to fetch water? ASUD will not relent until these people get a boreholes.” He concluded.
Post Author: asud
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