Relocated women plead with mayor for water

Relocated women plead with mayor for water Face dangerous, difficult trudge every day “They say we must wash our hands with running water, but where do we get that water? They put us here in the new location because of flood risks, but they didn’t even provide us with water,” the community leader said. JANA-MARI SMITH







WINDHOEK

A group of women from an informal settlement are begging the Windhoek municipality and mayor Job Amupanda to install a water point at the new location they were relocated to in January.

Forced to move with their families to Nyanyukweni on the farthest northern outskirts of the Tobais Hainyeko constituency due to flooding risks, they now face a daily trudge through the deep-set Omuramba riverbed to the nearest water point.

“They say we must wash our hands with running water, but where do we get that water? They put us here in the new location because of flood risks, but they didn’t even provide us with water,” Hilma Laurence, a community leader, said.

She said the women are exasperated after months of asking the municipality to install a closer water point to no avail.

“We need the mayor to come here and talk to us. If he were here, we would tell him the municipality put us here because of the floods, but now we have a water and toilet problem. It’s an emergency,” she said.

She said while the area they were relocated to was supposed to house more people than it currently does, many refused to come because of the lack of water there.

The group yesterday said the water they fetch every day has to be used not only for hand, body and clothes washing but also cooking, cleaning, drinking, and watering their small vegetable gardens.

Dangerous and difficult

In addition to the distance and difficulty to get to the nearest water point, they added that they face physical dangers such as being assaulted or tripping when fetching water at night.

The path to the water point requires that they walk through the riverbed and then climb a narrow and uneven footpath that snakes steeply up a hill to the water point. At many spots, the footpath is adjacent to a downward plunging cliff.

“Imagine walking this path to fetch water at night, you can get hurt or attacked,” Josephine Kamati said while leading the way from her home to the water point.

Meanwhile, in wet weather the river flows, cutting the community off from the water point completely.

Laimi Shadonodi, a young nursing student, said because of the difficulties reaching the water point each day, the women can only fetch two buckets of water a day.

“It’s a long-distance, and the way the path is, you cannot go twice. So, we bring water and prepare breakfast, and then you wash your hands with that water. We can’t wash our hands in running water. The water runs out quickly.”

Evening out the road to the settlement will ensure that ambulances or fire services can reach them in emergencies. At the moment, they fear if a fire breaks out or someone becomes seriously ill, they will be unreachable.