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FROM THE FIELD

From Muddy Puddles to Clean Drinking Water
19 Mar 2009 07:58:00 GMT
 Source: Medair - Switzerland
Medair

Website: Website: http://www.medair.org

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A Medair hygiene promotion team tests an alternative method for providing safe drinking water.

Background

•  Madagascar cyclones

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In the small fishing village of Varingohitra, in a clearing that contains two tiny houses and a cooking shed full of fragrant charcoal smoke, there lives a woman named Norfine who suffers from very bad headaches. Norfine visits the doctor in town, and is told she just needs to drink more water. This is a concern. Her water comes from a muddy and unsafe hole, and perhaps unsurprisingly, she does not like to drink it.

In a region frequently struck by devastating cyclones, thousands of Malagasy residents suffer due to a lack of access to safe drinking water. Norfine and the other residents of the village of Varingohitra are poor compared to town dwellers. Their houses are strewn without cohesion between marshy areas and sandy dunes.

There are only two wells in the village, and most people use water holes for their drinking water. These water holes are unprotected, and quickly become muddy puddles. When Medair's hygiene promoters visited the region, they found water holes that were full of tiny worms.

Filter Test Project Medair's hygiene promoters visited the area in June 2007 to encourage appropriate hygienic behaviours, to help with latrines, and to test ceramic water filters.

"As part of the hygiene programme, we wanted to test ceramic candle water filters as an option for providing clean water after an emergency situation," said Catherine Shimmin, Hygiene Promotion Coordinator. "We also wanted to provide support to the communities living in the outskirts of town - those usually neglected by projects aimed at rural communities, and not included in government plans for development of the town."

Varingohitra was a good village to include in the test. Medair had already carried out six sessions of hygiene promotion there, with topics ranging from "Why wash your hands" to "How to store clean water."

Medair held meetings to explain the filters and offer them to the women of the village, including Norfine, with the condition that they accept regular visits to ensure they were being used properly.

Water is "Eau Vive" When Joelina Rahehelihanta and Patricia Razafindrafara , two of Medair's hygiene promoters, called on the village chief and his wife Toyaraline for a follow-up visit about their filter, our staff saw it proudly displayed on a shelf in their small hut, next to the door.

The couple were extremely enthusiastic about their filter, with both talking at the same time in their eagerness to explain its advantages:

- "No, we had had no problems using it. The technique for removing the candles was a bit hard at first, but now we are used to it..." - "Every night before going to bed we fill it up, and in the morning the water is ready to drink..." - "It's not only our family that drinks the water, but also the neighbouring children, and young people after they play sports..." - "That's why we have placed the filter in such a convenient location, so everyone can access it..."

Water from a typical local water hole is muddy and yellowish, but not after it passes through this ceramic filter. "The water is just like Eau Vive!" they exclaimed. (Eau Vive is the name of a bottled water sold in Madagascar).

In total, Medair distributed 170 filters in Varingohitra and other quarters of Maroantsetra. After a six-month trial, the beneficiaries could choose to return the filters to Medair or pay a deeply discounted price in order to keep them.

So far all the beneficiaries have preferred to pay to keep their filter, which shows us that they are highly valued. Tabavy Andrine said, "To have a good health, we need to use the filter." And Naly commented, "I find it to be very good. I invite everyone to buy one."

Thanks to the success of test projects like this, thousands of the most vulnerable will no longer have to suffer the adverse affects of not having access to safe drinking water.

And Norfine? She uses the filter provided by Medair regularly, and for the first time in her life, she enjoys drinking water. Most importantly, her headaches are fewer and she is feeling better every day.

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In the six years Medair has been in Madagascar, it has specialised in improving water and sanitation in rural areas. Its expertise is particularly beneficial when dealing with the ongoing threats of cyclone emergencies: assisting with mitigation (how to prepare for and protect against cyclone damage), emergency response (how to re-establish access to clean water), and recovery (how to improve the situation in the rebuilding phase after a cyclone has hit).

These projects receive currently financial support from the EuropeAid Cooperation Office of the European Commission (Water Facility), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Medair brings life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable. Its internationally recruited staff are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, providing practical and compassionate support, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Founded in 1989, Medair has an unwavering commitment to bring hope to the world's most vulnerable.

Medair's life-saving activities are also dependent upon private donations. To contribute to this work, please visit www.medair.org.

photos © Medair/ Odile Meylan




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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