Quelimane project update: 2011-12 Thanks to your tremendous support, things have been changing for the better in the town of Quelimane, Mozambique. Over the last few years, our team has been working in two extremely poor neighbourhoods to improve water and sanitation for the poorest people living there.
Water:
• 100 rainwater harvesting gutters have been constructed. People now have a source of clean, fresh water of their own. The systems are installed on the roofs of people’s homes. This means families no longer have to queue or pay for water which often they still have to chlorinate themselves.
Mr. António Alfaiate, 45 years old, lives with his wife and children:
“I got the rainwater harvesting gutter in the Community Centre, with the support of WaterAid. I wait for the rain, like I did today – it was raining such a lot! I wait for about 30 minutes so that the rain washes the gutter, and then I put my bucket, tins and jerry cans that I use to collect the water under the gutter, and fill up my 200 litre drum.
Queuing up
“There are a lot of differences. Before we had the gutter, I had to queue up and it took a long time, sometimes there was a great confusion there, and then I could only get two or three jerry cans. “Now, with the gutter, I fill up and I have water for a long time, two weeks or more. Rainwater is better, I got used to it. When I drink the water I taste the difference, this rainwater is better, it‘s good. “Before, my family used to waste a lot of time collecting water, but now they don’t and my wife and children prepare and sell small cakes, so that way we manage to have a bit of money. Also we have started to save money to pay for school supplies for the children.”
Sanitation:
WaterAid
Thanks to the rainwater gutter, Mr. Alfaiate and his family always have a supply of safe drinking water.
• Construction of 145 composting latrines. These are used in areas where groundwater levels are high. Added benefit: they turn human waste into fertiliser. • Improvement of 239 latrines. Now, 2,361 people no longer have to defecate in the open.
Progress report
May 2012
Mr. Gentil Carlos, latrine mason, Manhaua neighbourhood, Quelimane:
“I am a mason and I build latrines, I also help raise awareness in communities. I got involved in the project because I want the well-being of my community. Before this project, the neighbourhood was too much, it was terrible. “I have been in this project since 2008 and I see that every year Manhaua changes. When the project arrived, people saw latrines were a good thing, we worked a lot and I am also helping to change things.”
Organising life
“Before the project a lot of things happened here, people defecated in the streets, whatever way they could and we had a lot of diseases. There was always diarrhoea in Manhaua. On the radio they were always talking about our neighbourhood, the ditches did not drain water, and with the rain today you wouldn’t even have arrived to the centre, there were no streets like we have today. The project is trying to organise life in our neighbourhood.”
WaterAid/Eva-Lotte Jansson
Regular flooding is now a thing of the past in our project areas.
Environmental sanitation: •
1,500 metres of drainage dug and cleaned. This has dramatically reduced flooding (a significant cause of the spread of disease) and stagnant water, the breeding sites of mosquitos. The communities were hugely involved in this activity. There were many diarrhoeal diseases in this area. Our awareness raising helped people understand the importance of implementing this vital area of work.
Key challenges: •
The composting latrine has not been actively taken up by everyone in the community. The difficult environmental conditions in Quelimane make this the perfect technology, but for some community members handling faecal matter is taboo. More research is needed to identify existing cultural barriers.
Key successes:
• There was not a single case of cholera in Quelimane over the last year. • Increased awareness of the benefits of having a latrine. The community centre has seen a great increase in demand for latrines. • Newly dug drainage ditches prevented flooding during the heavy showers of the rainy season.