These have been some of the friendliest people I have ever met! We have spent a day with local people and all they want is clean water. It's really difficult to put my feelings in to words. We are all tired as we've been up since 3:45am. I'll write more soon.
We were up early (3:45) for a 3 hour drive to the village of Haboombe
On arrival the first thing to strike us was the joyous and happy reception we received form the villagers who had been waiting for this day to arrive when WaterAid and the supporters would arrive.
Here are some key facts about Hamoombe village.
The village has 28 households and a population of 283 an average of 10 people per household
The main problem encountered by the village is a lack of a clean water supply, we are the first external visitors that the villagers have seen. The villagers talked about their desire to have a clean and close water supply that would reduce the amount of water bourne illnesses that they encounter and also reduce the amount of time they spend collecting the river water. This would enable them to grow other crops and possibly enable them to be able to sell some and create some further income.
I have been paired up with Sally from Welsh Water for the day and we are spending the day with Les Hamoombe who was born in 1926 in the next district and founded this particular village in 1985 when their current village was unable to support them as the maize fields were too far away.
Our translator for the day is Clement We spent the first part of the day talking with Les Haboombe and his extended family who explained to us the that they have 12 people in their household and that they collect about 85 litres of water per day, currently this is a 10 minute walk down to the stream (which we went to see later)
During rainy season water is only a few hundred yards away (as now)
Main water supply is 7km away and this is a round trip of 4 hours to collect and sometimes have to go further which is a 6 hour round trip
All go to collect water and they will collect 85 litres per day for 12 people, when water is scare they will go without washing of clothes / dishes and themselves, hygiene becomes an even greater problem for them.
One of the main tasks other than collecting water is to pound maize to become meal, each bowl will produce enough meal for 4 people and they have to pound 3 bowls per day. The maize is mixed with the river water that has been collected.. the other main tasks of the day are to collect fire wood, make fire, tend to the crops, collect water and collect vegetables.
When the village started the land needed to be cleared of trees and also animals, elephants and hyenas were frequent visitors and now elephants are a rare site, the last time they passed through was April 2011. Remaining are warthogs and monkeys, both of which cause problems to the crops, so the villagers have to protect the crops. We were also informed that lions were occasionally seen ( we hoped that today was not one!!!)
After we had finished talking we went down to the river to collect water with the family, I was not really fully prepared for what we saw. The river was very dark in colour and contained contained human and animal excrement, fortunately none was visible but the thought of what was in the water was making me feel a little queasy.
We spend a little while down at the river and assisted Nellie with collecting water, this she done by clearing a bowl in the sand and waited for the water to start to fill and then scooped the water into a container. This was when it really dawned on us thet these people have NO CHOICE about the water they drink and use for cooking and cleaning with.. Sally and I helped carry 25 litres of water back to the village, we were exhausted at the end of this trip and could not imagine carry the water for 4kms. We were amazed though at the ease with which Nellie was able to lift the water container onto her head and carry with ease!!!
Some points raised were
- How many more communities are in their position?
- Local authorities are given finance but not enough gets to the people really in need.
- They do not want to move away as they would refer to have their village developed.
- Betty Haboombe asked if the funds could go direct to the village for them to arrange for a pump to be installed.
Once the meeting with the villagers closed we then got back into our vehicles for the 3 hour drive back along the rural tracks and crossing streams etc.
Our thoughts at the end of the day were how positive the village were and that they really understood the benefits of having a clean water supply and having pit latrines – lets hope their dreams become a reality!!
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