Solar powered water system, an early Christmas gift to Zimbabwe’s children
By Future Manyuke and Munyaradzi Nkomo, Zimbabwe Communications
More than 300 households including 1,100 schoolchildren in Rushinga will celebrate Christmas in style this year, drawing clean water from a solar-powered borehole that feeds into 20,000-litre storage facility. Drawing water from a tap seemed a far-fetched dream for villagers - it has taken years for them to have a stable flow of clean water.
The installation of a solar powered water system has brought joy and relief to Bopoma Primary School, Marymount High Schools and surrounding communities in Rushinga. The villagers had never dreamt of accessing abundant clean water, much less from a tap. The devastating effects of the El Nino-induced drought dashed their hopes of ever fetching the crucial liquid as most water sources in the area dried up.
The children can hardly wait for Christmas day to express their happiness. The completion of the piped water system and gushing out of clean water from a tap put everyone in a celebratory mood. They jostled, taking turns to taste the precious liquid from a tap, something they had never imagined. They will now have more learning time as they won't have to spend time looking for clean drinking water.
Tatenda, a female primary school student expressed her delight, “We are happy and thankful to World Vision for giving us this water from the tap. This is great!”
Bopoma Primary School Head, Mr. Chihota, was also beaming as he explained how the piped water will benefit both students and teachers including the implementing income generating activities for the school. “Children have adequate water for drinking and other uses. This means their study time will be longer. Teachers are also happy because they no longer have to walk long distances looking for the precious liquid. Their time is now spent in assisting the learners,” he said.
During the long drought in the country, the drying up of water sources adversely affected the children. Many became desperate. Children could be seen queueing in one borehole that would release five litres of water after pumping 60 times.
This is indeed an early Christmas gift for villagers too, who ululated as the initial water flowed from the tap – an expression of joy and relief. They will no longer spend countless hours searching for water and will instead have extra time to spend on household tasks and caring for their children. Collen Zondo, one of the villagers, described it as an oasis of hope as it will also prevent diseases.
“Now we have safe portable water from a solar-powered borehole which will go a long way in reducing diarrhoea among children and the community at large. Although the area is dry due to El Nino this support is an extra mile to the solution,” he said.
For the past decade, Rushinga has not have adequate rainfall. Villagers have desperately searched for clean water for domestic purposes. The Bopoma River, which usually supplies water for livestock and people in the area, dried up only one month after the previous rainy season.
Due to lack of adequate water villagers were no longer engaging in livelihood activities such as market gardening for their subsistence. The solar powered water system has revived people’s hopes of better days ahead.