Water Availability Brings Joy to Binga Villagers

A few years ago, Siamajiti 5 Village in Binga district’s Ward 7 (Sikalenge) did not have a safe water source.

Bordering Hwange district, famed for the wildlife-infested Hwange National Park on the western side, Lupane on the southern part and Nyami Nyami, also known for its high game density, Binga falls in Natural Region 5.

The region is characterised by very low and erratic rainfall (range of 450mm-600mm per annum according to the Global Environment Facility (GEF)’s Small Grants Programme.

The poor Kalahari acidic sandy soils, high temperatures and rampant wildlife make land cultivation almost impossible.

Growing up in the nearby Siamajiti 5 Village, Mrs Sophia Mukuli (72) never had the luxury of having a water source nearby.

She and other women and young girls from her village used toil for hours each day to fetching water as they walked distances of up to 10km.

“This meant waking up around 4am with my mother and other village women and girls, walking for hours and then trying to finish all the day’s work and chores in the remaining time,” said Mrs Mukuli, now a grandmother herself. “This area has a lot of wild animals, some dangerous!

“As we walked in the early hours of the day, we would sometimes encounter these dangerous wild animals as they, too, will be searching for water.”

It was during one such daily early morning searches for water that she and the other women encountered a pack of hyenas.

“I had just been married and I was carrying my three-month-old first child when we met the hyenas,” she said. “The pack tried to fight us and we fought back.”

Mrs Mukuli said because she had to help her mother fetch the water, it meant she had to go to school late every day, sometimes missing classes completely.

Eventually, she dropped out of school after Grade Six.

But today, her village boasts of piped water and the tap is only a few minutes from her hut. Her school going grandchildren no longer walk the long distances she used to in search of water.

“They no longer have a reason to drop out of school and get married at an early age as I did,” she said. “The water is now right at my doorstep. Now, all they have to do is concentrate on their school work while their mothers work in the nutrition garden.”

Her village is benefiting from one of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society and UNICEF emergency water and sanitation Covid-19 response projects that were carried out in five wards (7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 in Binga district.

In an interview, Red Cross secretary general Mr Elias Hwenga said the hardware components of the project included the repairing of two pipelines in Siamuloba and Samende, including the Siansundu Clinic sanitation facility.

“The software activities included the Covid-19 mobile awareness campaigns and training, water point committee training, volunteer-driven door to door awareness campaigns and distribution of non-food items,” he said.

The Samende pipeline serves four main communities; Samende primary and secondary schools, Siabuzuba Clinic and three other villages (Siamvikeni, Siabanga and Chilimbana) with a total of more than 3 000 households.

After the installation of the Samende pipeline, Red Cross volunteer Mr Sorry Kambizi said the three furthest points where the villages are sited could not get the water owing to some leakages and breakdowns.

“The project then procured a tank that was installed at Siamvikeni with three water points,” he said. “The community chipped in with their labour and reclaimed the gullies that left the pipes exposed along the Sianywoka River.

“A non-returnable valve was installed just after the Samende Secondary School tank to avoid the backflow of water which affected accessibility at the clinic and the Siabanga community.”

A 7-kilometre pipeline was installed at Siamuloba and services about 802 households, Sebungwe Mouth Primary School and a nutrition garden with 37 beneficiaries (all women).

“Through the Red Cross/UNICEF intervention, one of the two submersible pumps at Siamuloba was repaired and an ultra-violet water steriliser was also installed,” said Mr Kambizi

He said the Siansundu Clinic, which services four wards in the Binga district had its dilapidated ablution facilities which were last functional two decades ago repaired and restored through the Red Cross and UNICEF Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) projects.

“The blocked toilets were repaired while the septic tank was emptied with a new soak away installed,” said community member Mr Micho Munkuli.

Mr Hwenga explained that before the Red Cross/UNICEF intervention at Siansundu Clinic the septic tank was full and untreated sewage oozed out relentlessly, with effluent pooling on the ground, a clear health danger.

“Clearly, the soak away was overwhelmed,” he said. “When a soak away fails, it endangers public health hence, it became imperative for us through the UNICEF funding to urgently facilitate the rehabilitation of the whole sanitation system at Siansundu Clinic.

“Both the clinic and the community were incapacitated to carry out the much needed repairs.”

The biggest beneficiaries of the rehabilitation of the water and sanitation facilities at Siansundu Clinic are the admitted patients, women in both labour and the delivery room, and the pregnant women in mother’s shelter.

“Before the rehabilitation of the toilets, women who had just delivered had to walk a distance of 60 metres to reach the blair toilets,” said Mr Munkuli.

“Today, they just walk a few steps to access the more user-friendly bathroom and ablution facilities. For that, on behalf of my community, we are grateful to the Government, Red Cross and its partners.”

Mrs Ellina Ngwenya (56) said the rehabilitation and modernisation of the ablution facilities at the mother’s shelter at Siansundu Clinic had transformed it and made it user-friendly for pregnant women who are waiting to deliver.

“Before the rehabilitation of the toilets and bathroom facilities, it was becoming a challenge particularly for a pregnant woman or one who had just delivered to use the blair toilets that are located further away from the shelter,” she said.

“Today, as women, we celebrate the new ablution facilities.”

For Mrs Mukuli, she can now peacefully sleep knowing that she and her grandchildren will never have to wake up around 4am to encounter wild animals while walking long distances in search of water.

By The Herald.