WORLD WATER DAY - 22nd March 2007

Today is World Water Day - I am reminded of an earlier post I made on the issue of water. I have ammended slightly...........

Water is on my mind! Maybe it’s because we had one big rainstorm last week (which incidentally knocked the electricity out for four days – another long story) and nothing since. Maybe because people are beginning to panic that this will be another drought year. Maybe it’s because Colonel Sewell, an SA officer and water engineer, has arrived to start the upgrade of the water system. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a proper shower or wash for close to five months. Most likely, it’s because last week I visited a small community of around 1000 people to examine the problems of their water.

This isolated community 10km from Nadezwe was one of the worst affected areas last year by waterborne diseases. It’s estimated that in Chikankata Hospital’s catchment area only a small percentage of the total population has access to clean, safe water. In the blazing heat, I sat silently and heard first hand that the only access to water for this particular community was dirty water from a nearby stream; the same water used to bath, drink and wash their clothes. This community had no means of sanitation whatsoever other than a few ad hoc pit latrines they had built themselves. We saw for ourselves the shallow well the men had dug, with water so dirty that in the UK we wouldn’t even allow our pets to touch it. We listened to their pleas for help; their stories about loved ones lost and saw their worry in their words that next year it might be them.

Unsurprisingly this community was one of the areas most affected by cholera last year; the Headman estimated that close to 100 people died for waterborne diseases. This equates to 10% of their population. Many of the people at the gathering complained that they suffered from constant diaherroa and vomiting – they were frightened. I heard from Gift, our highly skilled and dedicated Environmental Health Technician, who told us that children are particularly vulnerable. When they are thirsty - they drink. They don’t have the knowledge and they don’t have the luxury of being able to run home and draw a glass of water from the tap to clench their thirst. And that’s when it struck. For many people, clean water is a luxury.

The Salvation Army’s Chikankata Mission has problems too. The hospital’s infection prevention committee is finding it difficult to control and prevent infections due to the erratic supply of water in the wards and other critical areas of the hospital. The Maternity wards needs constant and safe water and we are continually concerned about the dangers to mother and babies of cross infection. The Theatre is one of areas where sterility has to be maintained and without a consistent supply of water, post operation infections have increased. This year the High School has had a dysentery outbreak for the second consecutive year, as there is not enough water to go round.

But it’s not just in Zambia. The WHO and other groups are predicting that severe water shortages affecting at least 400 million people today will affect four billion people – half the world- by 2050. This a frightening thought. So what can we possibly do? In the words of one missionary, Debbie Meroff; “We can either shrug off such realities because they don’t intrude in our own lives, or we can choose to follow the directions of Christ”Matthew writes “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward”

Whilst I accept that I might be taking this verse a bit too literally, it is certainly a clear direction on the part of the Big Man. That’s why I am so impressed with the initiative of the Watershed Project which will help the communities around the developing world, including our internal water supplies here within the Hospital. This is just one of the many projects run by the International Development Department at The Salvation Army’s UK Headquarters who have been good to Chikankata and epitmise The Salvation Army's brotherly love and concern for those in need. That's why I am so impressed with Cross International, who are a truly Christian organisation and have agreed to sink some boreholes in some of our most remote communities (including the one mentioned above). That’s why I’m writing a first hand testament that these projects will make a difference; the different between life and death, between joy and misery, between defeat and hope for so many people. That's why I'm impressed with the Big Man for his continue provision. Psalm 41 v1!