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NORTH KIVU
The children are happier now because they are in good health:
SWIFT supports Soya to become a healthy village
What has changed? SWIFT programme, the community in Soya has access
Soya is a rural village in North Kivu, in the east of to safe water all year round. Like many others, Kahindo
the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past, the and her family have a latrine with a tippy-tap where
community relied for water on a source a 20-minute they wash their hands, and a pit where they dispose of
walk away, but this was only available during the wet their rubbish. The health of the children in particular is
season. During the dry season, villagers collected water reported to have improved significantly as a result.
from a stream.
The problem was that it wasnt permanent. How has the change been achieved?
Sometimes there was water and sometimes there The Healthy Villages and Schools (Villages et coles
wasnt, says Kahindo Kitambala, 35, who lives with Assainis, or VEA) approach is a step-by-step process
her husband and five children, who are aged between of village mobilisation that is supported by DRCs
2 and 15. Ministry of Public Health and UNICEF. Under the SWIFT
During the dry season it wasnt available. During programme, Oxfam is supporting Soya to implement
this time we would collect water from a stream. The the approach through local partner Hydraulique sans
family used to get a lot of sicknesses and diarrhoea, Frontires (Hyfro).
she remembers. Since September 2014, Hyfro has helped Soya
Kahindos family had no latrine; they would defecate establish a village management committee, andtrain
in the bush, in an area behind their house, and were community motivators in hygiene awareness. It has
unaware of the importance of washing their hands assisted the village to upgrade latrines, dig rubbish pits,
afterwards. and promote hand washing, with the aim of supporting
My family would often get diseases because of Soya to reach healthy village status.
all the flies and germs that were around. I felt bad, To obtain a coveted healthy village flag, the village
Kahindo says. The children often got stomach aches, must have 80% clean water. At least 80% of residents
sicknesses and skin problems. At night there were a lot will have hygienic latrines; 80% will have rubbish pits;
of mosquitoes around. It was very difficult. 60% will know about hygiene - for example, washing
Now, however, as a result of work done through the hands before eating and after going to the latrine - and
SWIFT Story of Sustainable Change
70% will know about water-related diseases and how to Kahindos neighbour, Mathiba Kahambu, explains.
prevent them. The village will be cleaned once a week. There has been a lot of conflict here over the years,
Hyfro has constructed four new water points in the and last year, when this project came here, people were
village, from which clean, safe water is always available. being killed not far away, says Mathiba, 42, who lives
It has also helped the community set up a water users with her husband and seven children.
committee, whose job it is now to collect money from Some people were afraid to have latrines because
households and use it to maintain the system. they thought theyd come from Rwanda. So they were
worried that people would think they were connected
Why does it matter? to people there (in Rwanda), and if they had them
For Kahindo, the most important change that (latrines), they would be killed.
has resulted from Hyfros support for Soya going
through the Healthy Villages and Schools process is
the improvement in the communitys health; and in
particular, that of her children.
Since Hyfro has been coming here, weve stopped
falling sick because we know about good hygiene. We
know about washing our hands with ash after going to
the toilet, she says.
Now we can collect clean water from one of the new
water points that Hyfro constructed. There is always
water there.
And she adds: The children are happier now because
they are in good health and are not getting sick so
regularly. There are less complaints about headaches, Kahindo collecting water
Stories and photos collected by Jane Beesley, freelance humanitarian communications specialist, and edited by Emma Feeny (Oxfam).
The
5 47 3207 / 2145 / 2172 SWIFT Consortium works to provide access to safe water,
/ 2053
sanitation and hygiene to people in Kenya and DRC, and builds
tium.org
capacity to ensure services are sustainable. It is funded
with UK aid from the British people.
ortium is led & hosted by:
m House, swiftconsortium.org
e, Oxford OX4 2JY, UK.
ed with UK aid from the British people