Day 5 - High density slums

Today was by far the most shocking visit of our trip to Zambia.  Having left Monze early in the morning we arrived back in Lusaka before visiting one of 39 urban settlements in the capital.  Ngombe is an unplanned, illegal high density slum where it is estimated around 80,000 people live.

We met with WaterAid Zambia and representatives from the local partner, Keeper Zambia Foundation and other community organisations, such as the health committee and the environmental health technicians.  A pilot project began here in 2009 to identify what help could be given to the residents of the slum.

Sanitation was a huge problem here.  Not only was there a complete lack of privacy but people were using naive practices such as defecating into bags or into holes in the ground.  In 2009 the baseline of people with access to toilet facilities was only 3%.  It is now estimated that this has increased to 50-60% - a huge improvement but still a long way to go.  The level of illness is high and it has been shown that 80% of typhoid cases in the area have originated from the Ngombe settlement.


Case Study - Richard and family:

I met Richard and his five children.  He has lived in Ngombe for 20 years and is now the proud owner of a brand new latrine.  Before looking at the new latrine, Richard showed me the old pit latrine that they used to use - it was basically a hole in the ground surrounded by a very flimsy screen.  It was small, smelly and not at all hygienic - his daughters didn't feel safe using it, particularly at night time.  The new latrine was brick built and had a wooden door that could be locked from the inside for privacy and from the outside to prevent others using it without permission.

The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education (WASHE) committee has a huge job to do. They visit households one by one to provide advice and guidance. Changing people's behaviour is a challenge and they need to visit on a regular basis to try to re-inforce the messages and provide further support. To understand how successful the project is they are collecting data on the number of households with sanitation facilities and the number of instances of diarrhoea or other water borne diseases.


Later in the afternoon we walked down to a stream.  At first glance it looked a very busy place, but on closer inspection you could see how bad the situation really was.  Right on the edge of the slum, it was the boundary between rich and poor - just a few hundred metres away were walled compounds which were obviously a world away from what we were experiencing.

There was a rubbish dump on the edge of the stream, kids were playing in the water, women and children were washing themselves and clothes, animals were using it and we were told that some people also used it for drinking even though they have been told that they should not.  Some from our group met a lady who lived near the stream and had knocked a hole in her latrine to prevent it over-flowing when it rained - unfortunately this meant that the over-flow drained straight into the stream - adding further to the pollution.

We all found this scene extremely upsetting as it was quite simply awful to see what the people here have to deal with.  It was difficult to hide our emotions and we were a very subdued group that evening when we had our de-brief.

Much as I hated seeing what we did at Ngombe, it has helped me understand more than ever just how important the work that WaterAid and their local partners is.