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In villages such as Siyaphambili in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North Province, the success of a family is measured by construction of a simple latrine. In the village only one out of the 85 households has a toilet.
“They (family) have a child working in South Africa, that is why they have a toilet. The rest of us use the bush system,” said village head Mr Phillip Mpala.
Occurrence of cholera or typhoid in this village is not prevalent by grace, but should the bacteria be imported from other areas the outbreak would be disastrous as the same villagers rely on shallow wells along Gwayi River for drinking water.
Many small wells, which provide their only source of water have been dug along the river. As such, health officials have advised them to fence them to avoid contamination by animals. The small wells are also prone to bacteria contamination through seepage.
The wells are not more than two metres both in depth and circumference.
“During the rainy season, both the wells and the river easily fill up with water. We use this water till the river dries up,” Mr Mpala said.
He, however, pointed out that they treat the water at point of use with aqua tablets or by boiling it.
Mr Mpala, who has been in the community since 1963, said education is the only way his community can be rescued from the sorry state his village is facing.
“The majority of our children do not go to school because we cannot afford to pay school fees for them. Our wish is to see them excelling financially so that they are able to develop their community,” said Mr Mpala.
Tsholotsho District Administrator Ms Nosizi Dube said the water and sanitation situation was even worse in districts farthest from the centre where people take turns with animals to quench their thirst
Women who normally bear the burden of household chores cannot manage to travel long distances to fetch water from the nearest borehole hence they resort to available open water sources.
“When the villagers get the water in some cases it would have been disturbed by animals, so they wait for it to settle before they fill their containers,” she said.
Ms Dube, who had a sample of the water in her office brought by the villagers in protest, promised to take up the issue with the Provincial Administrator.
“When we get money from donors it always comes with strings attached.
“The last time we had a partner who assisted with borehole drilling, there were so many things expected of us and we ended up going for the nearest districts with regards to implementation,” Ms Dube said.
She said the problem of water in her district, which along with the whole province is traditionally dry, can only be solved if a huge dam is constructed.
As of 2009, the district which has a projected population of about 150 000 had 587 of the 930 boreholes functional and the situation is likely to be worse now.
Nationally, the Ministry of Water Resources, Development and Management said 75 percent of the 47 000 boreholes previously drilled in rural areas are functional.
The Demographic Health Survey (2010/2011) further reveals that about 30 percent of rural households do not have access to safe water compared to less than 5
percent of the urban population. There is further discrepancy in the provision of adequate sanitation as 69 percent of rural households do not have improved toilet facilities and of these households, 39 percent practise open defecation.
“In an area where open defecation is a common phenomenon, it is not advisable for people to rely on unprotected water sources as these wells are prone to contamination,” Unicef Wash officer Mr Stewart Nyamuranda told journalists during a tour of Siyaphambili village. He said in such scenarios, human excreta could be washed down to the wells or the water is contaminated by flies or through seepage.
The only approved world standard source of drinking water in rural areas is a borehole.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development head in Zimbabwe, Mr Dave Fish, said his department partnered with the Zimbabwean Government to address exactly that disparity in 30 rural districts from five selected provinces.
About 2,4 million people from these districts are expected to benefit from the programme codenamed Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash).
“Helping so many people get access to something so basic and yet essential as safe water is exactly what the British people would like to see their taxes support,” Mr Fish said.
Realising this critical need for improved water and sanitation facilities in most rural areas, DFID will release US$50 million for rural Wash. This programme was officially launched this week at Mkubazi Primary School in Tsholotsho and will be implemented by Unicef over the next four years.
“Bringing safe water near homes will reduce time spent in collecting water and provides opportunities for poor families to engage in small-scale productive activities.
“It also reduces burdens which mount on women and girls in rural areas who are the main collectors of water,” Unicef representative Dr Peter Salama said.
Historically, Zimbabwe’s rural areas are less developed compared to urban areas because of skewed colonial policies.
The policies concentrated more on urban areas where the whites lived neglecting rural areas, home to the majority of blacks.
In fact, 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population lives in rural areas.
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