Can wells keep us well!

Gibson Mangwendeza 19 years, Chitungwiza —
When asked to fetch water in a household in Chitungwiza the first thing one would do is to ask in which bucket? “Bucket” that it is now the norm for were one gets water.

Gone are the days when water used to flow from the tap. Water has become a rarity, it has become scarce. Water comes once or twice a week and usually at night like the witching owl.

Questionable is also the hygiene of the water. As has been noted by most residents of Chitungwiza. If you leave the tap water in a bottle for a few days, sludge collects at the bottom.  This raises questions of whether this water is safe at all especially for children.

Thanks to the programs by the non-governmental organisations to put boreholes in place  in 2009, water problems where alleviated to a greater extent. However some of the boreholes have broken down and have never been fixed.

The whole area of Unit B and Unit A extension in Chitungwiza is supported by two boreholes and for those who stay in Unit A they have to walk a considerable distance to go to unit B where the boreholes are located. To make matters worse the lines are usually way too long.

The children are the majority of the people that go to fetch water. Although it may be part of their duties, the hours spent in queue trying to get water are too long. The children are then late for school and prone to bully behavior by the imposed ‘owners’ of the boreholes.

Due to the general shortages of water and the long lines at the boreholes, residents have resorted to digging up wells. However most of these wells are unprotected which poses imminent danger to the children. The children are at risk of falling into the wells and secondly the water is not safe for drinking posing a greater risk of contracting waterborne diseases.

Asked why she was fetching water from unprotected wells, Tinotenda a 16 year old of Unit B said “kuchibhorani kwakazara (queues are too long at the borehole) if I go there ndoita (I will need) 3 hours ndiriko (waiting)”.

Come on city fathers! Surely you can do better than this and justify your huge pay checks!

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