The Sunday News
Lovejoy Phiri, Features Correspondent
MRS Sinikiwe Nkomo (44) has been married in Malaba Village in Matobo district for the past 11 years. She has managed to survive in her village despite water challenges they have been facing.
Those that have lived in the village longer have even been contending with the problem, almost owning it.
The district lies in the Matabeleland South province which by any measure is a little too arid compared to other provinces in the country although pockets of Matobo are not as dry as much of the province.
Mrs Moyo says she has seen all the levels of poverty and hardships that have hit her village mostly due to the scarcity of the precious liquid that has been exacerbated by the phenomenon of climate change.
The challenge of having to wake up at 4am and walk a distance of 5km to fetch water at Madletshe Dam so that her children can bath before they go to school was a necessary but torturous exercise always accompanied by backaches, headaches and sore feet which were now becoming minor sicknesses to her and other villagers.
“Access to water had been a huge problem for us because we used to travel almost up to 5km just to fetch water. Sadly we were now drinking from the same open dam with livestock from the surrounding communities,” she said.
She is among villagers in Matobo district who have shared the worries and challenges they used to face before Moriti OA Sechaba, a Non-Governmental Organisation, came to their rescue by drilling a borehole near their homes.
The borehole was a big relief to the villagers who expressed their excitement at the new developments in their villages gratifying what Moriti OA Sechaba had done for them. According to villagers in Matobo district, the project by Moriti OA Sechaba has come as a blessing to them at a time when they were facing challenges of easy access to water, lack of knowledge on sanitation and hygiene.
Mr Alphias Maphosa, a 55-year-old villager from Ward 23 in Woodlands in Matobo calmly stressed out his observations on the new developments by Moriti laying bare his past experiences before the borehole was drilled.
He said it was very hard for them because they had to walk very long distances just to get water. He said little attention was paid to how safe the water was, stressing that all they needed was water.
“We had a big challenge when it comes to water for drinking and for domestic use. We used to dig up wells along the river but due to siltation the wells collapsed and at times dried very fast, leaving us and our livestock with no option but to share the dirty dam water as we wait for the rainy season to come.”
He lauded the borehole drilling saying it was a milestone development in the area and a big relief to the women whose burden had been lifted.
Matobo district administrator Mr Obey Chaputsira commended the good work that Moriti was doing in the district saying the projects were part of development partnerships that they entered into.
He said Moriti constructed more than 150 squat hole toilets (Blair toilets) at different schools and drilled boreholes and repaired those that were affected by Cyclone Dineo.
“We are happy that the partnership we entered with Moriti has seen us covering a lot of ground in a very short space of time. We have managed to replace part of the infrastructure that was destroyed by Cyclone Dineo-induced rains. Boreholes were drilled, toilets were built at different schools while health clubs are arming our communities with the requisite knowledge to fight diarrheal diseases.
“The long and short of it is that we are happy with the progress so far made. Our communities were facing water problems while a number of schools were short of toilets after they were destroyed by Cyclone Dineo. In some areas people were walking more than 5km to the nearest water source which sometimes would be a dam where livestock would also be drinking,” said the Mr Chaputsira.
A woman who identified herself as Mrs Esnath Nyathi said words could not express her happiness at the life changing development.
Articulating her joy about the new borehole, Mrs Nyathi said: “I’m very happy because now we can even wash our blankets, our kids had suffered a lot as they used to push wheelbarrows for long distances on a daily basis. They used to complain about sore feet and hurting backs but all that is history.”
Moriti OA Sechaba has been instrumental in improving provision of water, sanitation and hygiene in selected schools and communities in Matobo.
They have offered their support to Mahetshe Primary, Shashani Primary, Hlupho Primary and Shashani Primary just to name a few.
They have worked in communities such as Woodlands Village, Ndiweni Village and Zamadube Village and said they were rolling out more programmes in the district. Moriti constructed 15 Blair toilets at Mahetshe Primary School and is constructing more after some were destroyed by the rains that were associated with Cyclone Dineo early last year.
Moriti OA Sechaba has established 40 health clubs in Matobo district in their quest to improve sanitation and hygiene. The programmes have extended to primary and secondary schools as they aim to educate children about health and environment issues.
The Executive Director of Moriti, Mrs Sefelipelo Bhehe said it was important to improve sanitation and hygiene at grassroots level.
She said they have adopted the catch them young aphorism where children have to learn good hygiene so that they could go home and teach others who do not have a chance to benefit from these programmes.
“The Health Clubs aim at promoting good learning spaces for hygiene as the children would further go and transmit hygiene education to their households thereby improving the community health standards. This is a good opportunity for children to learn good hygiene.”
However, villagers in Matobo district also gave future recommendations on what they expect Moriti to help them with in the coming years.
