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Belinda Magarira Citizen Child, Chitungwiza —
The increasing water problems in Chitungwiza have reached alarming levels. This calls for action as it is now a serious hazard in children’s lives. The unavailability of clean and safe water in our community has resulted in quite notable effects in the lives of Chitungwiza children. In Chitungwiza, particularly Unit D, water is now a golden treasure which is now even on high demand on the local market.
According to Chitungwiza citizens, water has been available once per week but only in few houses located in lower areas. Some have gone for months now without tap water and this has given rise to a new job of selling of water.
Residence have now turned to use of water bodies in wet lands which are unsafe as sewage dominates those areas. The sad part is the catastrophic effects that all this has on children. Speaking to Mai Kelvin from Unit D she lamented the drastic effects of water issues on her children.
“My four year old toddler did fall twice in sewage as they played and ever since that incident he has been suffering from stomach aches. There was a time l stopped my child from going to school due to stomach pains and also the unavailability of water makes it impossible to wash his school uniforms and bath him,” said Mai Kelvin.
Water is being sold on the market at a rate of one dollar for three buckets of drinking water and one dollar for four buckets for household chores. On rare occasions when tap water is available, I have to spend the whole night filling containers since the water will be coming in trickles through the tap as everyone will be doing using water.
The water problems seriously have great effects on children’s health as well as education. Speaking to honorable Tatenda Mangoyana, former junior MP for Chitungwiza North, he warned that in Chitungwiza the water being used by the residents from wetlands is not clean and safe and children are most affected.
Susan Mutinhima, aged 17, a student at Seke 1 High School emphasized the need for urgent action in order to ensure children’s access to quality education and adequate clean water at home and at school.
We won’t stop, neither will we rest, till there is change in our community of Chitungwiza, for our welfare as children matters most. Again and again we will keep hammering until the environment is conducive for children.
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