Chongwe

On 13 June the trustees of Water for Kids agreed a grant of £5,354 for two protected wells to be built for 407 people in Shisholeka village. The village is in Chongwe, a sparsely populated rural area 40km from Lusaka. Contaminated shallow wells are the only water supply for the community, as the nearest hand pump is at least two kilometers away. Here we will be working be piloting two protected wells with hand-pumps. The work will be carried out by Village Water under the supervision of the Zambian Institute of Environmental Health. Village Water is a charity, which was set up by the British Association of Dowsers. It is providing water, sanitation and hygiene education in the Western Province of Zambia along the same principals as Water for Kids.

Village Water will:

  • Enable the community to set up a WASHE (Water , Sanitation and Health Education) Committee.
  • Carry out the Community Led Total Sanitation Programme, where community is educated in good hygiene practice and shown the benefits of self-help sanitation. Using stories, song, dance, pictures, music and humour the community workers should sensitise the villagers to a new way of thinking and understanding.
  • Train pump technicians to maintain the water pumps.
  • Construct two protected wells with hand pumps.

Ensure that each household has the following, teaching them how to build each structure:

  • adequate sanitation
  • a wash stand
  • a bath shelter
  • tables/stands for vegetables, dishes and pestle and mortar
  • access to a refuse pit