The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
CHIDOBE Ward in rural Hwange District has become the latest area in the country to be declared an open defecation free zone with more than 1 000 toilets set to be built under a community led water and sanitation project.
The Chidobe Ward Community Led Water and Sanitation Project was initiated in March this year and so far, more than 200 pit latrines have been built.
The ward covers Chidobe, Dibutibu, Jembwe, Monde, Ntabayengwe and Sizinda areas where there are 1 460 homesteads according to a committee set up to steer the project.
Various organisations that include United Children of Africa (Unica), Ocean Bird Foundation, Jafuta Foundation, Shockwave Safaris, Wild Horizons, Matetsi Lodge, Lion Encounter, Victoria Falls Adventure, Pennywise Cottages, Children in the Wilderness and Victoria Falls Safari Lodge are spearheading the project which was initiated by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The project comes after a realisation that about 60 percent of the 1 460 homesteads in the ward had no proper ablution facilities, putting the whole area at risk of waterborne diseases due to open defecation.
Under the project, the organisations involved donated bags of cement and each household is encouraged to dig a pit and source some bricks after which it is given the five bags to build the toilet.
Community members formed a committee to run the project.
Mr Sipho Moyo who is an environmental health technician said the main objective of the project is to attain 100 percent sanitation so as to avoid cases of waterborne diseases in the resort town.
“This is a community project initiated by the ministry. We are giving cement to a family that has dug a pit and sourced bricks as we target 1 000 toilets by end of next year. We want to avoid that system of being reactive and as environmental health technicians we believe prevention is better than cure,” he said.
Mr Moyo was addressing scores of villagers who had gathered for distribution of bags of cement under the project at Unica pre-school on Friday.
He appealed to more companies to chip in with bags of cement for the programme to be a success.
Chairperson of the committee Mr Douglas Musiringofa, who is Unica director said about 5 000 people use the bush to relieve themselves in the area, posing an environmental hazard.
Jafuta Foundation outreach director Ms Daniele Connolly said the project is premised on water and sanitation research by Government and partners which exposed high rates of open defecation in the ward.
Chidobe councillor, Shakani Mukoma said an outbreak of waterborne diseases would affect tourism hence the need for an all-stakeholders approach.
