Since the devastating cholera epidemic that broke out in Zimbabwe in the first part of 2009, Oxfam and a local partner in Bulawayo have been working with communities to improve sanitation and protect against future outbreaks. Nicole Johnston reports.
The devastating cholera epidemic that hit Zimbabwe last year not only drew international attention, but also helped to mobilise communities. During the country’s economic meltdown, many public services simply ceased to function, from rubbish removal to public sanitation facilities, posing obvious dangers to the quality of life of the people of the city, and particularly the poor in the high-density areas.
Tackling a public health nightmare
“In the last three years many municipal public toilets closed down, refuse was being dumped all over the place and sewer pipes were burst,” explains Shaik Alibaba, a team leader working for the Lead Trust, an Oxfam partner organisation in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. “The community of Makokoba was looking for a way to clean up their area, so we provided tools such as brooms and they started clearing up the streets. Community members approached the Bulawayo municipality directly and got trucks to come pick up the rubbish they had collected.”
The next step was to provide public toilets to allow people access to decent facilities and prevent the spread of disease. “This area is a business hub,” says Alibaba. “There is a bus terminus here and lots of informal businesses too. But because there were no toilets, people were just relieving themselves anywhere they could find.”
The Lead Trust and community members created a committee, mostly comprising unemployed people or those with particular skills, such as plumbing or landscaping. The committee members completed a course in business management training and negotiated a lease agreement with the city council to take over and renovate a block of derelict public toilets. The committee also notifies the council immediately if there is a burst sewer pipe in the area.
Replumbing and repainting
The community members replumbed and repainted the toilets and installed a 200 litre water tank on the roof, to ensure that the toilets remain operational in the event of a water cut. The area around the toilets has been cleared of all rubbish and undergrowth, and beautifully planted with flowers and trees.
“We make a small charge for use of the toilets,” says Alibaba. “They use this money to pay rent and rates, to ensure there is always toilet tissue and soap. They also buy cleaning materials and members of the community take turns to clean the toilets.”
A visit to the project shows just how seriously the community is taking it – the floors are pristine, the taps and sinks sparkle, and the fragrance of flowers wafts in from the gardens outside.
Committee member Bob Mzondo, an experienced landscaper who previously worked for the Parks department, has not just planted flowers but also mealies (corn) on the open peice of ground next to the toilets. The area is unfenced and faces a busy road, leaving his crop vulnerable to plunder. But Bob doesn’t care – as far as he is concerned, anyone who is hungry enough to steal his mealies is welcome to help themselves: “as long as they don’t dump rubbish here, I don’t mind.”
This post originally appeared on Oxfam’s Southern Africa Regional Blog.
In pictures: Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis (early 2009)