{"id":335330,"date":"2010-02-18T08:22:54","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T13:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oxfam.org.uk\/applications\/blogs\/pressoffice\/?p=10909"},"modified":"2010-02-18T08:22:54","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T13:22:54","slug":"zimbabwe-cholera-crisis-coming-clean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/335330","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe cholera crisis: Coming clean"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

The devastating cholera epidemic that hit Zimbabwe last year not only drew international attention, but also helped to mobilise communities. During the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Tackling a public health nightmare<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last three years many municipal public toilets closed down, refuse was being dumped all over the place and sewer pipes were burst,\u201d explains Shaik Alibaba, a team leader working for the Lead Trust, an Oxfam partner organisation in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next step was to provide public toilets to allow people access to decent facilities and prevent the spread of disease. \u201cThis area is a business hub,\u201d says Alibaba. \u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\"Bob<\/a><\/p>\n
Bob Mzondo tends to the flowerbeds he has planted in the roots of a tree. Photo: Nicole Johnston<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Replumbing and repainting<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make a small charge for use of the toilets,\u201d says Alibaba. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A visit to the project shows just how seriously the community is taking it \u2013 the floors are pristine, the taps and sinks sparkle, and the fragrance of flowers wafts in from the gardens outside.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t care \u2013 as far as he is concerned, anyone who is hungry enough to steal his mealies is welcome to help themselves: \u201cas long as they don\u2019t dump rubbish here, I don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post originally appeared on Oxfam’s Southern Africa Regional Blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Where we work: Zimbabwe<\/a><\/p>\n

In pictures: Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis<\/a> (early 2009)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}