ABOUT E3.9M WATERAID FOR GILGAL

GILGAL – A treasure guarded and protected with their all!

The above describes the situation for residents in 10 chiefdoms under the Gilgal Constituency, who have been blessed with water, after years of drinking contaminated water which they shared with livestock among other things. At least over 1 868 people stand to benefit from the water project which has been made possible by WaterAid through funding sourced from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of Swaziland. The project cost around E3 960 000. Such has brought a sigh of relief for community members at Hlutse who walked over 10km to collect clean water. The community walked long distances to collect contaminated water and the launching of the 10 boreholes has come as a relief to them. To protect this gift, the community stated that no children were allowed near the boreholes.

Supervision

They stated that it were only adults who were allowed to collect water, while children needed to be strictly under supervision of elders. To save the water resource, each family is allowed to collect at most 250 litres a day and nothing beyond. The issue of distance might not have been solved, but members of the community mentioned that they were relieved as the water they collected was clean. Sinyalo Gamedze, a beneficiary from Mhlumeni borehole under Mvabuhlungu chiefdom said their lives have been completely changed following the introduction of the boreholes about two months ago. Gamedze said before the boreholes, they were forced to drink dirty water which was shared with animals and at times the animals would die inside the dam supplying them with water. He said some people upstream would also dump disposable diapers into the dam.

Gamedze commended WaterAid and Latter Day Saints for ensuring that they afford the community with clean and safe water. He added that as a community, they had made a commitment to keep the borehole safe and water running for many years to come. This, he stated, would be done through strict rules which included creating a saving account for maintenance services for the boreholes. Gamedze said each homestead contributed E300.
However, he said they were yet to meet and decide on monthly contributions. Also, he stated that the community members had to make sure they kept young children away from the borehole.

Controlled

Further he mentioned that they had a controlled structure in terms of collecting the water, which included 250 litres a day for each homestead.  
Siphelele Phakathi stated that although she still had to walk over five kilometres to fetch clean water at the borehole, it was fulfilling. Phakathi said water was very scarce in the area and they used to drink water supplied by the river. Meanwhile, Bella Vilakati, a businesswoman rearing chickens is also among the beneficiaries at Masimbofana borehole. Vilakati said the borehole was quite a relief for her as she had to fetch water from a distant river on several occasions to clean her chickens.

Vilakati said she used a wheel barrow to fetch the water but it did not make any difference. “It is such a blessing for me as the borehole has been installed a few metres away from my home.” Vilakati said he believed God was a God of time and had responded to her and the community’s needs after struggling for so many years. She said they were treating the borehole very well because they had previously struggled to get clean water and a number of organisations had promised but never delivered. Vilakati said they had mixed feelings with WaterAid and Latter Day Harvest but they were glad that the organisations lived up to their promise. She said they were hoping the structure would not develop any challenges at least for the next five years. Mhawu Gwebu, also a resident of Masimbofana, said their lives were transformed as water was their greatest challenge.

Harvesting

He said others used water harvesting methods to collect water for drinking and cooking purposes. However, he said for other chores like washing and bathing, they would use the river. Gwebu stated that before the boreholes, they would sometimes pay tankers for E800 per tank for a month. “The boreholes are such a relief for us and it will improve our lifestyle,” he said. Enock Magagula, who hails from Phasentsaba, stated that it has been two days since they were using portable water. Magagula said they were yet to meet as a community to lay down the rules on how the borehole would function. He said homesteads that might have events including burials, weddings and others were encouraged to report so that they were given an exception when collecting the water. WaterAid Country Director Ncamiso Mhlanga said they selected the area to benefit in the project through their application process. Mhlanga noted that the community was evaluated through a site visit with a local community leader to assess the status quo. He said the hand pumps that had been installed were Indian mark, whose lifespan was around 15 years with routine maintenance after every five years.

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