Feature: Lack of clean water thwarts Namibian villagers

by Ndalimpinga Iita

WINDHOEK, March 24 (Xinhua) -- It is 11:30 am on a Friday and the sun was at its peak. The 39-year-old Motjao Mbinge and other villagers from Oukongo Village in Namibia's northern Kunene region endured a long walk under the scorching sun to fetch water from a stream.

The 10-kilometer walk to the stream has become a daily necessity if villagers are to meet their daily chores and livelihood. The stream is their main source of water.

"We usually rely on rain for water. However, during the dry days like today, community members from about five villages rely on the stream for water," said Mbinge, who is also a community leader.

The water is however muddy and unfit for human consumption. "But we have no other choice but to utilize and survive on this water," she said.

Mbinge accounts for three in ten people worldwide who lack access to safe water, especially in rural areas, according to the 2017 Report on Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

The report states that about 844 million have no access to basic drinking water service, including 263 million people who are likely to spend more than 30 minutes per trip collecting water from sources outside the home.

Meanwhile, 159 million people still drink untreated water from surface water sources, such as streams or lakes, according to the report.

According to Mbinge, although boreholes in surrounding areas maybe an alternative source of water, water drawn from the boreholes is saline.

To cope with what they refer to as "status of waterlessness", villagers have since established strategies to source water from the nearest main town, Opuwo.

Those who can afford this, at times broker deals with car owners who travel to Opuwo to buy water for them. A 25-liter container would cost about 20 Namibian dollars (1.68 U.S. dollars).

"But this is unsustainable. How many containers of water can one afford to buy for a household of more than five people? How will that be possible in an environment where income generating activities and employment is scarce?" questioned another resident of Oukongo village, Ishmael Tjaimi.

The muddy water is thwarting the villagers, who said that sickness has since befallen on their community.

The animals too have been affected, said Tjaimi.

Due to lack of water, livestock are shepherded to drink from a sewage pond in Opuwo, the main town in Kunene region, consequently bearing hazardous health implications along the food chain.

"We rely on our livestock for food and nutrition. But now, our goats drink from sewage ponds. Thus, when we milk our goats and feed our children, they get sick. So our only relief will be rainfall or the provision of potable drinking water by government," said Mbinge.

Wendy van der Merve, a health extension worker in Kunene region said that cases of diarrhea and cholera reported in the village and surrounding areas have increased, due to the consumption of unhygienic water.

"Lately, cases of ill-health due to unclean and unsafe water have also been recorded amongst adult villagers, which was a rare occurrence in the past. Formerly, cases of diarrhea were mainly reported amongst children particularly those under the age of five," she said.

According to van der Merve, despite efforts put in place to provide water purifying tablets to the community, it does not help much judging from the rising number of diarrhea cases.

"This is evidence that the community is in a dire need for clean and safe drinking water," she said.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Governor of Kunene region, Marius Sheya said plans are under way to inspect the state of affairs at affected villages as part of efforts to address their plight.

In the interim, as Mbinge and fellow villagers have carried buckets and containers back home. She said that until it rains, consuming muddy water is a risk she can't do without.

Their lack of access to safe drinking water remains as the world observed the World Water Day on March 22. This year's World Water Day was commemorated under the theme "Nature for Water" -exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges faced in the 21st century. Enditem