It’s hard to imagine that scraps of scribbled-on paper taped on the wall, are the start of a process to improve the health and well being of communities in the Mulanji district in southern Malawi. The goal scribbled at the top reads: ‘to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices of 500,000 people in Mulanji District’.
I’m here to put a proposal together to gain funding from an AusAid grant. I’m joined by Matt, a Water Engineer from Australia, to facilitate a group of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) specialists from the Plan Malawi office. We brainstorm ideas, adding objectives and activities required to meet our goal. Soon, the wall is transformed into a multi-coloured collage. I take a silent step back and am in wonder at the potential of such a simple process in this hotel board room in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.
It is not until we begin our five-hour journey south, and the smooth tarmac becomes a bumpy track, the dust rising behind the 4WD, that I really understand the context that we will be working in.
We pass women in bright sarongs carrying baskets on their head; boys in worn shirts herding goats; women sitting by tomato’s, cabbages, and potatoes, neatly stacked like small pyramids at a makeshift market; and men riding bicycles laden with metres high hay stacks. The houses we pass are mud brick with straw roofs – the size my bedroom at home. I can’t imagine a family of six living in an area so small let alone with no electricity or running water. The girls have to walk a couple of kilometres just to fill their buckets from the nearest water hole.
I close my eyes and raise my face to the warming sunshine. It’s a nice change from the cold Melbourne winter and I am exhilarated to be in the field again. We are on our way a village Plan has been supporting, in partnership with the local Government, on an approach called Community-Led Total Sanitation. It’s an approach that empowers communities to build their own toilets and hand washing facilities as well as practice safe hygiene behaviours. It is an effort towards becoming ‘open defecation free’ which basically translates to stop shitting in the bush! Something so simple yet prevents life threatening diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.
Our car slows as we reach the village and we are greeted by about 50 members of the community singing their welcome in beautiful harmonies. They clap their hands and smile widely as they serenade us. After shaking hands with government officials and traditional leaders, we are guided to sit in a line of wooden chairs. Community members gather around us in groups on the ground: women in bright head scarves, some with babes at their breast sitting to my left; children sitting cross-legged ahead of me; and community leaders to my right. I always feel uncomfortable sitting on chairs while most are on the ground but it would be rude to refuse.
The welcome ceremony begins and it is a poem read by one of the community leaders – an older man that strikes me most. He struggles to read in English for my benefit.
I don’t remember all the words but it goes something like this:
“You have empowered us to be healthy and happy,
To build latrines and wash our hands with soap.
Once we had people dying of cholera and sick with diarrhoea
But now we are sick no more.
Together we have built toilets across our communities.
To this we are proud and want to share with all the other villages.
So that like us, they will also become healthy and happy.”
And with that everyone broke into song once again. I gulp back tears yet my cheeks are sore from smiling.
Then three children come up and curtsey.
“We represent the children of this village and want to say thank you. We now have toilets in our schools and know the importance of washing our hands with soap.” They curtsey again and retreated shyly.
Don’t cry Krissy, I tell myself, though listening to the children speak plays on my heartstrings like a harp. Knowing that it is children under five that are most affected and are usually the victims of diarrheal related deaths. It is crazy for us in the West to imagine that the second biggest cause of children’s death is diarrhoea. But not if this community can help it!
With women and children swarming around me, we move on to inspect the newly constructed toilets and their proud owners demonstrate the simple but effective hand washing tools – often bamboo stands or a bucket and soap tied to tree.
“You’re our ambassador now,” says the district health official, knowing I am going back to the Australian Government to try to gain funds. “We thank you for visiting our village and understanding our situation and hope you can come back with good news.”
With a heart full of joy after seeing such significant positive changes in a community that Plan works with, I also feel my shoulders heavy with responsibility. I just hope our goals for the Mulanji district will be fruitful in raising money so we not only make a difference in the lives of a few small communities, but expand our reach to the entire district.
What was yesterday a collage of scribbled paper on a wall, is now a bright tapestry of people.
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