Women in Malawi Village Plead for Clean Water Sources
The plea emerged on Friday at an interface meeting held by the Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC) at Tchakhatha primary school.
DOWA, Malawi-- Women in Chiwere Village have cried for help to the government and development stakeholders to install safe and clean drinking water sources, citing daily struggles to access water from an unsafe stream inhabited by wild animals, writes Martin Kamlaike.
The plea emerged on Friday at an interface meeting held by the Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC) at Tchakhatha primary school.
The meeting brought together community members, local leaders, chiefs and district council officials from Traditional Authority Chiwere in Dowa District.
"I wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to go fetch water from a stream that is an unsafe water source and a habitat for wild animals," said Chikondi Kayedzekeka, a village resident.
"I have been here all my life drinking the same water ever since I was born. I have never seen a borehole in my village."
Kayedzekeka said pleas for assistance from duty bearers have fallen on deaf ears. Aubrey Kayedzekeka, the Senior Group Village Head, said the mountainous terrain makes it difficult to drill boreholes and access the water table.
"Access to safe drinking water is a big problem in my area, as such our women find it so hard to search for water," he said. "My area is on higher ground, so organizations that come to help us do not find water when they want to drill boreholes."
MacMillan Maziya, the District Education Sports Officer, acknowledged they lost many lives in Chiwere last year due to a cholera outbreak linked to the water scarcity. He said the council is aware of the problem and will escalate it to higher authorities.
"We lost a lot of lives in Chiwere the past year, and now that the people have complained, we are going to take the matter to the upper authorities, especially the MPs and DC, so that these people should be given water," Maziya said.
Noel Msiska, a Capacity Development Associate at MHRRC, said the meeting successfully allowed community members to voice demands to officials and facilitated cordial citizen-leader engagement.
The meeting was part of a project by MHRRC, with support from Norwegian Church Aid and Danish Church Aid, aimed at enhancing citizen participation in governance by enabling them to demand services and fight inequality in pro-poor budgeting for health, education and social protection.