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Phyllis Kachere, Reporting in Beitbridge
Thousands of Beitbridge, Gwanda, Mutare Urban and Chimanimani residents are benefiting from a Cholera Disaster Response Emergency Fund programme that is being implemented by the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society.
Twenty-nine-year old Ms Lafter Ndou is one such beneficiary who shared her story of how she, her family and tenants use the nearby bush to relieve themselves because there is no toilet at their house in Beitbridge Urban.
Ms Ndou and eight other families living at a house in Mfelandawonye, Dulibadzimu in Beitbridge have no appropriate sanitation facilities.
Mfelandawoye literally means solidarity in death.
“I have lived here since birth and we have never had a toilet. We use the bucket at night which is emptied at day break or we use the nearby bush to relieve ourselves.
“As you can see, this perennial stream of raw sewage passes through our yard since I cannot remember. It has been years. My 13-month-old baby fell sick and was diagnosed with cholera. It could have been because of this raw sewage.
“Council doesn’t seem to know how to fix the sewer problems afflicting this area. A whole line of houses is affected and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight,” said Ms Ndou.
She said they defecate in the open and sometimes use buckets, at a nearby stream feeding into the Limpopo River, which is the main source of water in the border town.
Beitbridge town clerk Mr Loud Ramakgapola said work had started in rehabilitating the town’ sewer infrastructure with new residential areas having been authorized to make use of septic tanks where sewer pipes have not yet been installed.
The scope of the programme, which is being supported by the International Federation of Red Cross is to prevent and control the spread of cholera at the community and facility levels in the affected districts.
In an interview, ZRCS secretary general Mr Elias Hwenga said:
“This is being done by interrupting the chain of transmission, facilitate improved case management of cholera outbreak at facility and community levels in the affected districts and improve basic sanitation and good hygiene practices and access to safe drinking water in cholera hotspots.”
Mr Hwenga said his organisation was working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care and local authorities in a move that ensures access to safe drinking water and promotes hygiene awareness in affected communities with the view of instilling behaviour change.
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