“Pure water is the World’s first and foremost medicine.” - Proverb
An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanitation, 4 billion people will contract a diarrheal disease annually, and 1.8 million people will die every year from drinking contaminated water. The International Declaration for Human Rights cites clean water as a basic right which all people need and deserve – yet many do not have access. Looking particularly at Malawi, a 2012 survey showed that 18 % of children under 5 have had a diarrhoea monthly, and 74 % of those cases require oral re hydration solution (ORS) for their recovery. Still further, even with a clean water source – there are many points of contact (collection, transport, and storage) which can contaminate water before it is consumed. So, providing water is only half the battle – there must also be the mechanisms in place for that water to make it from the tap to the mouth whilst staying bacteria free. As I walk through the villages today it is clear that Nkhata Bay North continues to have poor water and sanitation- inevitably causing long lines at their rural health centre which happens to have no doctor. When I ask people in the village, “why do you drink water that is untreated”, the response is always simply put– “we are just used”. In the Usisya delta there is tapped water to most of the houses through a very complex and old gravity scheme. Most of the taps leak or do not work, but the water is often treated with chlorine at the source – allowing for fairly consistent clean water. However, in a recent visit to the village we found the source dried up leaving everyone reliant on lake water. This would not be a massive problem; most people live quite close to the lake, except for the fact that treating water is not a large part of the local culture. In fact, if you visit the lakeshore in the morning you will find children brushing their teeth in the lake while a herd of cows take their morning drink nearby. Still further, even when the taps are working the source is not always treated yet people continue to drink straight from the tap without acknowledgement to its contamination (this is partially the fault of local water authorities who fail to inform the community that they have run out of chlorine). Having learned about the dried river and that there are now 14,000 people without a clean water source, we quickly brainstormed solutions. First, we spoke with the CCAP SMART Center (who put in some boreholes a few years ago – which are now be non-functional) and asked if they could immediately their fix three broken wells. As usual they were accommodating and ready to head to the village with a team to fix the wells... by result we facilitated an immediate fix of three clean water sources available in the village. Second, we decided to assess the local community’s plan to fix their water situation. Some local water committee members informed us that they want to lay pipes from a river on the other side of the valley. Our initial response to this plan was that it will take a lot of time and money. Also, if they pull from another river then who is to say it will not dry up as well? Serendipitously, we had contacts with a seasoned pro on the matter and called him in for a consult. Once again proving the giving nature of African expats, our irrigation consultant agreed to go to the village and report back with his professional suggestions... this has allowed us to begin making long-term plans for how to make the village more water secure. Apart from fixing wells and helping with long term plans, there is little else we can do immediately. The next step is to try and convince people that they must treat the lake water before consuming it. However, how do we create behavior change? How do we convince thousands of people that drinking from the lake is harmful when they have been doing it for generations? The fact of the matter is that people know drinking untreated water is bad, but they also believe that if they have survived this long then their bodies must be strong against the bacteria. In truth, one of our field officers filled an empty bottle of coke with lake water and handed it to an HIV positive youth. When I chastised our staff for doing this, he said “his body is used to it”. So, if we have not even convinced the people who we pay to put out the right messages, then how do we reach the masses? Therein lies the issue, I believe the barrier which is keeping people from making decisions counter to the whole is that they are all just used! They wait for hours on the minibus (the same one which drives me to the angriest version of myself), they accept low salaries for long work days, they eat bland food with tasteless nsima (and actually miss it when far from home), and they do all of this because they have always done it. Yes, of course you hear the complaints, but there is never action. A recent news article said that if a minibus has more than capacity then everyone should rise against the driver and demand to not pick more people. However, I have only seen people begrudgingly make more space and hold their new travel companion’s child while more people pile into the sardine can. Change, across the world, is difficult to create because we are creatures of habit and culture. We do as our ancestors because it is what we have always done. Studying this point of behavior change, our third effort to help bring clean water to Usisya is through putting together a pilot project proposal which will put 200 water filters in a portion of Usisya’s households. Then, following a training on water and sanitation, we will try and track if people are shifting to treat their water and practice clean water practices. The reality is that we cannot put water back in the dried river nor can we force people to treat their water before drinking it. We can only hope that by giving people the education and tools needed – they will change their mantra. The hope is that with concentrated trainings, strong data collection, and community driven campaigns we will change the local culture around water usage. Then again, maybe it will just be another failed project in Africa, as that is always the risk associated with community development – that it will fail. At the very least we will begin to have some insight into creating behavior change and cultural shifts with the rural villages which we serve. Also, maybe a few people will shift, maybe one less child will miss school due to sickness or one more mother will give her baby safe water to drink. You do not change communities through floods of action, but rather small drops of change
2 Comments
Laura Sikstrom
11/27/2016 09:35:22 am
I have an excellent article on water I will send to you when my computer is working again.
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sally Taylor
12/1/2016 12:50:59 am
I can feel your frustration at the situation but as you so rightly say, it is by education, example and encouragement that change will happen. Thank you for sharing this, so important we know and understand the problems there.
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Bonnie HarveyCurrently working in northern Malawi as Programs and Evaluations Coordinator for Temwa Archives
June 2019
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