A day in the life of Isaac Mbewe

Provisional Co-ordinator of WaterAid's programme in Southern Province, Zambia.

Every morning I arrive at WaterAid's office in Monze early at 7.30 to access emails before the lines get busy when the other offices are opened. Today like all other days, I went to connect to the internet but it took so long to work that I only had a few minutes before the congestion started.

Then the computer crashed, so I hardly managed to get any mail. Not a good start to the day! With all the developments in technology I do wonder why they don't work in our rural setting. It is very frustrating when you are so eager to work.

After this people pass by the office to give morning greetings. This is an unusual custom which I found strange when I arrived here a year ago. But people from different organisations need to know one another, and so we greet one another every morning.

Sometimes, like today, the greetings take longer than usual but it's considered impolite not to take part and if people think you aren't showing interest they will inform others. News spreads very quickly in a town this small and you can become isolated which affects your fieldwork.

An environmental health technologist unexpectedly visits soon after to check on some construction materials and request advice on technical and community management issues.

Once he leaves I try the computer again to get some information that I need for a meeting with our partner the District Director of Health. But as I open the document there is a power failure, so I scribble some notes instead.
 
As part of the national water policy the Government has assigned responsibility for rural water coverage to district water, sanitation and health committees.

WaterAid began working with the Monze District Director of Health in a programme of hand-dug well and latrine construction, community mobilisation and hygiene education in 1995.

Then in November 2000, an evaluation of the programme was carried out which recommended, among other things, that more emphasis should be put on community empowerment and hygiene behaviour change.

This means using more participatory tools and methods which allow communities to identify their problems, find solutions, develop and implement action plans and monitor and evaluate their achievements.

This enables communities to make their own decisions, control the process, gain confidence and take ownership of the projects. To make sure that these aims are achieved project staff and partners need to move at a pace which is set by the communities.

Despite the power failure we have a successful meeting, looking at the best ways to empower communities and the support that WaterAid and its partners must provide to ensure the process is smooth and sustainable.

It was then time to visit the Siantontale rural health centre in Nkumba village, 60km away and two hours of really rough driving. We arrive safely on time but nobody is in the meeting place.

We are told that in the past the community had often waited hours for visitors to arrive and so now they only come to a meeting when a visitor actually arrives in the village. This is exactly what happens to me.
 
This was the first meeting with the community, and the aim was for them to identify their own problems and understand the need for safe water and sanitation facilities.

They looked at seasonal changes throughout the year, which highlighted diseases linked to poor water supplies and sanitation as well as poor hygiene practices. During discussions the community discovered that they had many resources that they could use to solve these problems when the project work began.
 
The community members who attended were very happy with the way the meeting was run as it involved everyone and this motivated the community.

They commented that if all development processes were carried out in this manner, where they could discuss their problems freely, at their pace, they could solve many problems and their lifestyle could be better.

The meeting went on for hours because the community showed so much interest and were eager to find solutions to their problems.

We promised to come to the next meeting earlier to allow more time to discuss solutions as well as ways to develop an action plan for the project. It was very satisfying to see the community so inspired, until I remembered I still had a two-hour journey on rough roads to get home!

Finally I arrive home at around 8pm where my wife and the last born were waiting for me. I had a shower followed by a good meal that sent me to bed.

Before sleeping I hoped that the technology would work tomorrow so that I can achieve everything that I set out to do.

Find out more about our work in Zambia