No words can describe this adequately - Saturday 18 Feb

An early check out from The Golden Pillow Lodge (sad) and we're hitting the road for our 3 hour drive back to Lusaka. It's quite exciting to be returning to the capital and seeing the different environment WaterAid work in, but it's also very sad as it means the "trip of a life-time" is coming to an end. We've seen so much, had some wonderful experiences and met some amazing people - I wondered what this afternoon could bring us that we hadn't already seen is some ways. But I needn't have worried...

After a quick check in at our home for the next 2 days - the Cresta Golf View Hotel, Lusaka - we headed off to the Ngombe settlement, which is an unplanned urban settlement on the outskirts of Lusaka - a slum in other words. The settlement has little in the way of infrastructure and services and is one of about 39 such settlements in Lusaka. The usual welcome committee awaited us - but this time no singing and dancing, which I guess is one of the many differences between rural and urban settlements - a very different community spirit.Over the next half an hour or so we learnt a little about the background to the settlement - the population was around 35,000 back in 2005 but had now grown to some 80,000 - staggering - how do you control and manage something like that. The area is classified as an unplanned settlement, yet we were told that people bought the land that their houses stood on - something didn't seem quite right to me and I sill don't fully understand what this practically means.

However this "uncontrolled" expansion certainly seems to be part of wider problems in Ngombe. We also learnt that initially only 3% of the population had access to latrines (3%....) but this has now increased to 50/60% - still some way to go then.

Unfortunately many of the pit latrines are less than 10m away from some of the boreholes that supply neighbouring households, you can only imagine the potential contamination.

Soon the meeting was over and we began our "tour" of the area. Our first stop was only about 1km away but we drove there - I'm not sure whether this was for safety reasons, or whether it was just easier. Whatever the reason, we were soon at the home of Rosemary (born in 1962) - the proud owner of one of the new pen"VIP" latrines (or demonstration latrines as they are also called). Rosemary received most of the materials from the Living and Innovation project, which is a group of partners working in the settlement to try and improve the conditions. Rosemary then dug the pit and built the latrine. She was extremely proud of her latrine (it as actually padlocked and spotlessly clean inside) but interestingly she wouldn't let her neighbours use it - even though she used to use theirs previously! The aim is that with a number of households building these new type latrines a kind of ripple affect will happen. Rosemary explained that her family's health had significantly improved as a result of the new latrine and that there was also a water kiosk just around the corner fro her house where she was able to get clean water. This didn't seem so bad really.

And then we moved on - towards the river... Here, on the banks and surrounding area, I saw one of the most saddening sights of my life. A river full of everything unmentionable that you can think of was being used for washing, cooking and cleaning pots and pans. Plus there were children playing in it, which inevitably meant they were drinking the water. This is despite the fact that there are a number of water kiosks in the settlement, granted there isn't enough but there are some. I asked if it was the cost of the clean water that made them used the river, but I was told no, it's more likely to be for convenience and their lack of understanding of the link between dirty/filthy water and so awful health problems.

And then we went to see Gracey.  Gracey was born in 1965 and owns as property with her husband (who is  currently unemployed). They have a number of children and rent out part of the property to 3 other families. This is quite a typical situation in the settlement and there are also a number of rented properties where the landlord doesn't live in the area. There is  well  close to Gracey's' house from which she is able to get water for cleaning and washing - she knows not to drink from it and goes to a nearby water kiosk for her drinking water. However, on turning around we saw the latrine the families use - it's not one of the new type but a basic pit latrine from which an "overflow" has been created that means all the contents run straight into the very close river that no doubt provides the water for Gracey's well and is where many of her family and friends will wash and bath - maybe her own children even play in it.

Gracey seemed unaware of the implications the overflow would create, and the 2 Wash Promoters who accompanied us to her house, started to explain the problems the latrine was causing, and how she could get help to build a new one. Wash Promoters are a small group of local people who travel around the settlement explaining the importance of clean water and sanitation and what help is available for families. They are an exceptional group of people, albeit there is currently only a very small number of them. Many, many more are needed and hopefully this is one of the things that could be addressed if the area is able to get more intervention from WaterAid and other organisations. 

We spent another hour or so talking to other people who lived close to the river and also the children, who like all the other children we've met in Zambia are full of smiles and laughter - the innocence of childhood. Eventually it was time to leave, but not before I'd made sure that the right people knew about the problems the latrine at Gracey's property was causing and arranged for someone to start the process of getting a new one - hopefully. Again, education and awareness seem to be key to helping the people of this settlement have a healthier (and hopefully) longer life through the access to safe, clean drinking water and sanitation...