Building for the future

The community chose to build a protected well with bucket and windlass so that they could repair it easily.

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

Rosemary Mande is the chairlady for hygiene and a latrine builder in Sichiyanda focus village, Zambia.

The WaterAid project began here in 2001 and after preparatory meetings the community worked quickly to dig their new well. Since the project started, vast changes have happened in the village.

Hygiene education is ongoing and a team of latrine builders, including Rosemary, have so far helped 28 families build safe, hygienic latrines. Families choose from a range of options depending on the type they want and the one they can afford. Many more are underway and soon every family will have one.

Here Rosemary describes how the project has changed her life and describes her new roles in the community. "We used to have to collect our water from a stream," she says. "We used to dig holes in the sand and let the water flow through in to pools.

The water still wasn't clean but at least the sand would filter it a bit. It used to take me an hour each time I went there, and I went three times a day in the morning, afternoon and evening. The water from the river had germs in it and so it often made us sick.

Now though we have the well and so the water is much cleaner than before. It is also closer now which means that I have more time to harvest food in my field and can also work more around the home.

We still use the old source, but only to water our gardens as they are next to the river. I come to the garden quite often now and am growing rape - mainly for my family but I do sell some too.

Rosemary washes her hands outside her new latrine.

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

Now I am the chairlady for hygiene in this village. We do hygiene promotion regularly - we promote the importance of keeping areas clean by building dish racks and rubbish pits and also making sure that there are no stagnant pools of water where mosquitoes can breed.

We also promote the pouring method of washing hands at critical times, like before eating and after going to the latrine. Diseases like diarrhoea have decreased here because of the good hygiene we are now using.

I am also one in a team of six latrine builders. There are three men and three women. I helped build our family latrine first - so we showed we could do it. It was a family affair, the boys helped to dig too. It took us about four days to dig it and two days to build the structure around it. We are really happy that we are able to do it ourselves - we have shown that we can do it and it means that it is not difficult to change.

I have a VIP (ventilated improved pit) latrine now. Before I just used to use the bush, but since having the latrine it is so much cleaner. Flies used to land in the bush, and then follow us back to the village bringing the dirt with them. Now this doesn't happen - and it is cleaner and safer.

The tap is made by Celica Mgombe in the village and the pot is full of ash which we use for washing our hands instead of soap which is too expensive for us to buy.

Everyone here is happier now and we have all got involved in the project. We did a lot last year - 28 households now have latrines and this year we hope we can help everyone else build latrines as well. Being able to do this makes us feel really good and positive about our futures.

There are currently three children and three grandchildren in my household. They are all cleaner now and so we have much less disease. They are much healthier now - we have seen real improvements here.

The surroundings are much cleaner now as well. Before the dogs used to lick the plates, but now they are all on dish racks instead and the dogs can't reach them.

I hope that I will continue to help with the hygiene here, I want to see us continue to improve our health situation and continue to improve our development."

WaterAid in Zambia

Examples of our work in Zambia