Rehabilitation Project
In the land of gold and rock mining, shrubby Eluhobe Village is filled with inhabitants who struggle to live hand to mouth. Their busy days are characterized with making bricks, fetching water, mining gold, and traveling to distant places that are as far as Lwanda (five kilometers away) to work on farms. Others get money by carrying people from one destination to another on their motorbikes.
People's small pieces of land have been tilled so much that they get very little produce. Mr. Makutwa feels that his people are languishing in poverty due to ignorance and a lack of enough money to support their farming. "We have dirty water from Lusumu River passing near our village, if we are helped to get... water then no hunger will be experienced here. But look at our farms, well-tilled but we can't plant anything until rain comes, yet the meteorologists say on media that we shall have rains in March. How long shall we continue begging when we have the natural resource with us?" he lamented. Most families have already depleted the harvest from last season. They are now waiting for the rains in order to plant again. Most men go to the Esibuye Market Center every evening to pass time, while women run up and down to ensure their families get a meal before bedtime. This is what a normal day looks like in this village!
Water Situation
Nearby Lusumu River, there's Amadi Spring. Amadi Spring is in a thicket of shrubs, and is a pool of grimy water drawn by local people from all walks of life. For ages, families have fetched from this natural spring, subjecting themselves to many contaminants ranging from human waste to eroded soil. One after another, people come here carrying a big container with another small one to help draw this mucky water. Moldy leaves, sticks and all other kinds of filth are seen floating in the water.
"Occasionally, people defecate here because there are days we get feces inside water and from time to time, animals that come to directly drink from this point drop their dung in or around the source; therefore we just drink this water and use it for cooking because we have no choice but sincerely speaking it is very perilous. A considerable number of people have been found urinating in the water, and animals do the same. Besides, people come to bathe at the spring and they become so defensive when cautioned against it therefore we decide to keep quiet but it doesn’t mean we don’t get peeved by their actions. For a grownup to persistently shower here and continue even after being rebuked, it means they have an evil motive. No wonder we have so many cases of diarrhea in this area," Mr. Dickson Makutwa explained. Wild animals, especially snakes, have been found at the spring on several occasions meaning that they also drink this water, thus endangering people’s lives.
When the water gets dirty and brown with soil, people have to wait for it to settle before drawing, and this has led to family fights. Men fall out with their wives, accusing them of taking too long to get water. Those who frequently nitpick take it as an opportunity to carp at their wives and reproach them for failing to rush from the river and prepare food in time. Some even allege that their wives go to see other men on their way to the spring.
Sanitation Situation
Most latrine floors here are made of worn out wooden boards, and mud or tent porous walls and broken doors or no doors at all. Users do not get the privacy required. Most of the latrines are smelly with feces smeared around the squat hole, and their roofs are set too low for medium to tall people.
Garbage is carelessly spread around the garden, and a few homes have clotheslines. The rest of the families air clothes on the ground, on the hedges and on the rooftops. Having a hygiene training will be a very good platform to educate this community on the importance of hanging clothes on wire lines to prevent diseases and infections.
Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training
Community members will attend hygiene and sanitation training for at least two days. This training will ensure participants are no longer ignorant about healthy practices and their importance. The facilitator plans to use PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation), CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation), ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development), group discussions, handouts, and demonstrations at the spring.
Training will also result in the formation of a committee that will oversee operations and maintenance at the spring. They will enforce proper behavior around the spring and delegate tasks that will help preserve the site, such as building a fence and digging proper drainage.
Plans: Sanitation Platforms
On the final day of training, participants will select five families that should benefit from new latrines.
Training will also inform the community and selected families on what they need to contribute to make this project a success. They must mobilize locally available materials, such as bricks, clean sand, hardcore, and ballast. The five families must prepare by sinking a pit for the sanitation platforms to be placed over. All community members must work together to make sure that accommodations and food are always provided for the work teams.
Plans: Spring Protection
Fetching water is predominantly a female role, done by both women and young girls. Protecting the spring and offering training and support will therefore help empower the female members of the community by giving them more time and efforts to engage and invest in income-generating activities.
In addition, protecting the spring will ensure that the water is safe, adequate and secure. Construction will keep surface runoff and other contaminants out of the water.
