Villages benefit from safer water, closer to home
By Dominick MwitaLutale Village
Mwana Kalendelo is a 60 year grandmother who lives with her sickly 85 year old mother and three grandchildren in Lutale, a village in Magu, a district with a population of close to half a million in Tanzania’s second largest city of Mwanza. The village is a dry, dusty patch of land covered with scant vegetation and grass thatched mud houses clustered together as if in a tight embrace for survival.
Here, villagers like Mwana Kalendelo have always had water problems – but not for much longer. With support from the Magu District Water and Sanitation Team, Lutale has already established a water committee that includes several of Mwana’s neighbours. Better still the drilling work on the new borehole is nearly completed, the new pump is ready for installation. Within weeks the kilometers- long journey to bring water from a shallow well in Kikundi will be a thing of the past. Mwana will have water virtually at her door.
The passing years have taken their toll. Mwana’s only daughter died four years ago, leaving her with grandchildren to care for as well as her own mother. Mwana herself along with the grandchildren had to haul water for the household. “It has been very difficult. The whole village depends on the traditional shallow well in Kikundi and that water is not good because we share it with animals as well.”
“We are more than glad to have a new borehole closer to home.” She smiles. It is a smile that is repeating itself in villages across Magu district. More than 1250 villagers are benefiting from the 17 hand-pumps that are now being installed in Lutale, Kisesa and Shigala wards, with funds provided by the UNICEF New Zealand National Committee.
Itandula Village
Mwana Kalendelo’s sentiments are echoed by Mama Mage of the neighbouring Itandula village. The mother of two girls makes a living by selling mandazi (buns) and fetching water from the traditional well has been a daily headache for more years than she can name.
“With this water my two school going children will have ample time to study, and I will have more time to attend to my business, farm work and small domestic chores as well as spend more time with my girls,” she says, looking visibly excited.
Lucia James, 16, a school girl who is preparing to sit for her Standard 7 exams in a year is also delighted at the thought of having access to water at her doorstep. “It will give me more time to study. Fetching water in the morning and evenings far from home is both tiring and risky, especially when I go alone,” she says, poised with a bucket full of water on her head.
District intervention
The chairman of the village-level water committee in Itandula, Ba Masanja says artisans have already been trained to gain skills and knowledge on construction, repair and maintenance of the new water pumps and wells.
“We are already meeting from time to time among ourselves and with village leaders and community members to strategize on how to make this a sustainable project,” he explains.
Strengthening the capacity of communities to manage and maintain their water supply and sanitation facilities, and establishing operational and maintenance community support mechanisms is a key priority. The villagers and their leaders decide who will be part of the water committees, which consist of 12 people, six men and six women.
According to Raymond Chombo, the Magu District Water Officer, the new boreholes in Lutale ward will help reduce water scarcity in Itandula, Langi, Lutale and Lugeye villages and save most villagers, especially women and girls the punishing daily trek to Kikundi.
“Thousands of people will benefit from these new wells. Villagers, mostly women and girls will no longer have to walk or queue for hours at the water point. Access to clean and safe drinking water will also reduce cases of diahorrea typhoid, worm infections, schistosomaiasis and other related diseases,” he notes.
The district office coordinates training of the water committee members and water users on various issues. Community artisans will be trained on the construction and maintenance of boreholes and rainwater harvesting tanks. Additionally, water user committees in the beneficiary villages will be trained on various aspects of management and sustainability of their new water system, improved sanitation and hygiene practices and other child health interventions.
