Eleanor volunteers for health promotion at 69

By Janet Mbwadzulu

Eleanor Mpochera is one of the eldest members of Lufeyo Village in T/A Nsamala in Balaka. She was born in 1945 and grew up in Thyolo district but went to settle in Lufeyo village in 1960 together with her parents.

In 2013, World Vision Malawi (WVM) through its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme joined efforts with Government stakeholders in the area for a massive sanitation and hygiene promotion campaign which resulted Lufeyo Village and other villages in Balaka becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF) in four to five months after the triggering.

Suffice to say, after the triggering, Eleanor volunteered to work with the Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA), the Village Head and the Village Health Committee in following up that every household has a latrine with a drop-hole cover and a hand-washing facility.

“I found this time to be an opportunity for me to encourage my fellow community members to construct latrines at each and every household. This was my heart desire despite my old age,” she said.

“It was not easy to knock on someone’s door only to tell them about constructing a latrine. Others would call us names while others felt it was a useless assignment but we focused our eyes on a clean Lufeyo Village and went on with our work,” she continued.

Today, Eleanor says is a happy person to have contributed to the ODF status of Lufeyo Village.

“I believe children will grow up knowing that a human being has to defecate in a latrine and should wash hands with soap or ashes after using the latrine. This will contribute towards a diarrhea free generation which will be able to attend classes throughout the year and contribute to the economy of this nation,” she said.

Nevertheless, the community members from Lufeyo Village and many other surrounding villages continue sharing drinking water with animals from rivers and other unprotected water sources, a point which VH Lufeyo complained would still impact them with diarrheal diseases.

During an ODF cerebration for Lufeyo Village held recently, VH Lufeyo requested WV to consider them with a borehole to ensure that they deal away with preventable diarrheal diseases completely.