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2020 Zimbabwe WASH
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Resource ID
65291
Access
Open
Contributed by
John Hewat
Uploading member
CARE Australia
Consent form provided?
Yes
Region
Southern Africa
Image size
1575x2362
Country
Zimbabwe
Theme
Climate Change and Resilience, Health
Camera make / model
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Project/Donor
Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP)
Additional Keywords
WASH, clean water, dirty water, borehole repair, Reynet, student, walk for water, happy, smiling
Credit
John Hewat
Copyright
© John Hewat/CARE
Date Image Taken
22 January 20
Caption
13-year-old Reynet has endured a lot in her young life: an abusive father who attacked her mother, having to drink dirty water that she must fetch from crocodile-infested waters, and the theft of her prize in a national darts tournament (she came second in the Under 15s Zimbabwe National Darts Tournament). She is frustrated by the need to collect water multiple times a day, and sometimes the contaminated water makes her so sick she can barely concentrate at school. The water is downstream from industry and other villages - each of which dispose of their waste in the river. Hence, Reynet and her family are drinking dangerously contaminated water.
Reynet’s story in her own words.I am 13 years old. I turn 14 in April.
There are five children and my mother in my family. The oldest child in my family is 19 years old but he is staying with his younger brother on their own, camping near the school. I am the oldest child living in the house. I have two younger sisters.
My mother is an agricultural extension officer. For different wards, there are officers trained in agriculture or livestock. She is here today as part of her job as a government officer. My mother has constructed 70 latrines in the village.
I am in form 3 at high school – the third year at high school. I like going to school because I have friends and I like sports. I reached the national level for darts.
When I grow up, I will be a nurse. I am intelligent at school so I would like to pursue a career as a nurse rather than darts.
I was learning at a different school but because the school didn’t have as many teachers or good facilities but I transferred schools. The school I am at now doesn’t have darts but I have spoken to the headmaster who will arrange for my school now to have darts.
In May 2019, I came second and got a silver medal in darts for the whole of Zimbabwe in the under 15s category. As a silver medallist, I received 30 USD and received a set of darts but someone stole them on my journey back form the tournament.
I last used darts in September last year. I was asked to hand over the 30 USD for a trip to Swaziland but the trip didn’t happen.
I only realised I was good at darts in form 2. I was playing at school and no one could beat me. At the tournament, no one beat me apart from the gold medallist who beat me in a tiebreak.
When we were in form 1, we were given an option for those not interested in running, they offered darts. While watching others play, she decided to take a chance and then she realised she was good at it.
The national championships were in Bulawayo.
My favourite part of playing darts is the closing darts. I just need one dart to close out the game
I feel excited when I win. When playing with other teammates, they feel they are being beaten but I feel that I can go on and have the motivation to win.
Right now I do not have darts or a dart board. But when I am relaxing, I might throw a stick. I hadn’t practiced before the tournament. When I started, my hands were shaking but I picked up the pace.
There were a lot of people at the tournament but I also got support from my schoolmates and teachers.
The school was very happy and it was my first chance to stand up at the assembly. After they heard the announcement that I won the silver medal, everyone was so happy. My coach was not so happy as he thought I would be the gold medallist.
I wish I had more of an opportunity to practice darts. I really enjoy playing darts but I also received an opportunity to teach some people, a team from Swaziland. I was supposed to train them every Friday at Masvingo. Because I don’t have my own personal darts, I couldn’t take up the opportunity.
There are darts in a bar near here but I cannot enter as I am under 18.
I stand outside the bar and watch the men playing inside the bar. The darts board is used every day so I cannot use it.
My responsibilities include collecting water, cleaning the yard and the house. I work the fields and I work in the garden and I help my mother clean the clothes.
Working in the garden for me is the most annoying job because there is a hill that we climb in order to get to the garden. And we collect water from the river and climb the hill to get to the garden so I have to walk up and down the hill.
I collect water three times a day, a 20 litre bucket each time. It’s quite boring collecting water. The river bank is slippery and there are times when we constantly fall so it’s not very nice.
I would rather be reading my books than collecting water.
I am usually late for school on average two days a month while collecting water.
Three days I week I have to collect water when I should be doing homework.
I am afraid when I go to collect water at the river. We were told that there are crocodiles in the river and we are afraid of them.
We heard that there are people who had lost several of their livestock to the crocodiles and we are afraid of them. One crocodile was killed but there may be more.
The water which we collect from the river is in the riverbed and we remove the sand and then collect the water. If you are not in a hurry, you can wait for the clean water to surface by clearing the sand and then waiting for the clean water to flow in. But if you are running to school, you don’t have time to wait for the sediment to be cleared from the water.
Donkeys, cattle and goats all use the same spots for drinking.
We have had stomach problems which may have come from drinking the water. Sometimes we have stomach-aches and watery stools.
Several times I have had stomach aches, I still go to school. I make sure to go to school, even when I have stomach pains. Sometimes, I cannot play with my friends and not go for break times when the pain is very intense.
My community needs the borehole repaired. This is our biggest need.
It will make me happy to see the borehole repaired.
Sometimes there is a long queue at the river and we get told to bathe at the river. Because it is an open space, we don’t feel free and safe to bathe in privacy and sometimes you can see a man passing by. It is not a comfortable place to bathe.
It will make it very safe for us because when the borehole is repaired, only men will rely on bathing in the river. We can take water from the borehole and bathe at home which is safer.
I will be happy that water will no longer make me sick.
There are three main things that will improve when the borehole is repaired. We will have space private enough for us to bathe. We won’t fear slipping at the water edges. And we won’t have to waste a lot of time of collecting clean water. With the borehole, you just come and collect water and go back home.
It makes me feel good to see women doing such important work. It is good for the whole community. My aunt is a trainee pump mechanic repairing the borehole (Angelina).
There was domestic violence between my mother and father so they split up when I was 11. My older brother told me I have to go with my mother as girls should go with the mother and it was not safe to stay with my father. Our neighbours saved my mother.
My father once beat up my brother because he had been suspended from school for tampering with the school ledger and tricking the kids into believing they had not paid their fees.
I felt pained and cried when my mother was beaten because my father didn’t want her to have a phone. My father took her phone and broke it on the rocks. When she tried to the do the same with my father’s phone, he got angry and he picked her up and threw her down again and again. This was not the first time he beat our mother. One time he beat her with a brick and she couldn’t walk for some time.
One time, our father invited us to go to his homestead and we went but what we did not know was that he had a plan for our mother. When we went there, he came to our mother’s house. He poured fuel into our house and closed the windows. Our father lit the house but he had missed one window through which my mother managed to escape. When he realised she had escaped, he started chasing her. My mother went to the police station but nothing was done about it.
My father constantly calls us to go and visit him on his homestead but I cannot imagine ever visiting him as I am so scared of him.
I want to get married and have three children. I only want to get married after I have finished school. I want to get married to a man who has been educated and has a profession so we are at the same level of achievement. Now I can easily see when a man is violent and which man is not. If I hear as man who is rough and rude, I know he is violent as well.
Interviewed by Lucy Beck, John Hewat, Emily McGuinness in Chivi on 22 January 2020.
Scene-setting information: .Chivi District is one of the districts enduring the worst drought Zimbabwe has seen in a decade, with nearly 8 million people (roughly half the country’s population) suffering food insecurity. Climate change has led to a lack of rain, which has led to many failed crops and families struggling to feed themselves. Compounded with high inflation leading to impossibly priced food and seeds, sourcing food is a challenge. It is anticipated that the conditions for families will get worse over the coming year, as their next harvest will be untenable for so many.
Project information and major issues: .Putting Women and Girls at the Centre of WASH and Health aims to provide clean water to those who are without, by the rehabilitation of boreholes, as well as education around best hygiene and sanitation practices. Women are trained as pump mechanics and girls are encouraged to join health clubs in schools.
Marker lat / long: -18.7, 29.9 (WGS84)