WHITHER THY RELIGION

People in most parts of Africa (as is the case in most parts of Asia too – bar a couple of countries I think) tend to be very religious. Malawi is no different.  A largely Christian population, people tend to be very devout. Sundays are normally reserved for attending church and various social activities related to the church and the local community.

It was thus with some consternation that the local parish in a neighbourhood of the capital city Lilongwe noticed the dwindling numbers in the church. This was a decade ago. Women seemed to absent themselves more than men. This was something that they wanted to look into. This was definitely not a good sign. Were people getting disenchanted with their religion ? Were people turning away from their own chosen religion to another one, another congregation, another faith ? Or, was something seriously wrong.

The nuns decided to go around the local community and investigate. It did not take long to find out what the root cause was – it was lack of water. And the ‘culprit’ in this case was the local water utility. Water connections had been disconnected. This meant that women had to travel longer to fetch water and this was increasingly getting more difficult. With water not being of good quality, it meant that people were falling ill. A combination of these factors resulted in less people turning up for prayers at the local church. The cause had been identified, now a solution had to be found.

The nuns knew of a local NGO working in the neighbourhood. They decided to approach them who, in turn, approached WaterAid’s office in Lilongwe as the root cause of this problem was lack of good quality water supplies. But first, the reason behind the utility disconnecting the water supplies had to be established. The story that was revealed was quite an interesting one, though not entirely surprising.

The local community who belonged to the poorer sections did get water connections from the local utility. A water rate was also fixed. Households had to pay cash to local contractors who would then collect and remit it to the utility based on consumption. This went on for sometime. The local contractors were appointed by the utility. They were not from the local community or known to them. What they did not realise was that the amount paid by them were not remitted to the utility. The contractors pocketed the money and at one point, just disappeared from the scene.

What the local community then faced was a double whammy – lost cash and lost connections. They tried reasoning with the local utility that it was not their fault, but the local utility would not take any responsibility. For them, the local community was a defaulter and as per their norms, they could no longer avail the services of a water connection.

Unravelling of this story then led to various discussions with the local community and the utility. A way forward had to be identified. Negotiations finally started bearing fruit. The utility agreed to restore the water connections if the outstanding amounts could be paid by the local community. This was difficult for the local community, but not impossible. They asked the utility if the payments on which they had apparently defaulted, could be paid over an extended period of time. A formula was then worked out. The local community would pay the water charges as per current agreed rates for consumers but would also pay a little extra. That additional amount would go towards paying off the earlier dues.

On the face of it, it appeared to be unfair. The poor community had to pay the same amount twice, just because they were cheated by the contractors who actually collected water charges but did not remit. But they were also practical. Paying off the past dues through a slightly enhanced payment system would mean that they could immediately get their water connections restored. These connections were more reliable and the water was of much better quality. In absence of these connections, they had to fetch poor quality water from longer distances resulting in lost productive hours and illness. The water also was more expensive. The unregulated private water vendors used to charge them 5-10 times more for this water. So, in principle, the higher water rate was perfectly fine.

But, something had to be in place before this arrangement would be operational. The local community wanted to appoint their own ‘kiosk managers’. These would be people responsible for operating the water kiosks (a common place where the water utility would provide a communal service and from where people could collect their water and pay the charges). The kiosk managers would be from the local community and hence accountable to them. They would be supervised by a local management group.

The utility also agreed to set up a Kiosk Management Unit. This unit (initially supported by WaterAid), would be the ‘social arm’ of the unit and be responsible for managing the relationship between the local communities and the utility. This was considered very important as it was about trust and confidence building, but it was also about making sure that the utility would look at the poorer sections of society as their clients and be accountable to providing quality service to them.

I visited Lilongwe for the first time in 2006 when I heard about this. During my visit to the local community, they told me about the progress they were making in collecting the charges including the previous ones. The utility’s kiosk management unit was also functional. The consumer now had strong links with the service providers. There was greater confidence and trust. Since then, I have been informed that the past dues have been paid off in full. The kiosk managers are also running their small enterprises around the kiosks and thus making an additional income.

I have not yet checked if the church attendance is back to past levels, or indeed growing. Perhaps they are. Perhaps, with a bit more time and much improved health, people have more time for pursuing their religious interests. Perhaps God too is happy. Didn’t someone say, ‘Cleanliness is more important than godliness’ ?

A REASON FOR HOPE

The drive to Alere village in Kuji sub-county of Amuria district was a pleasant one. Drives through the countryside are often pleasing for the eye. The area had received some good rainfall in the preceding weeks and the lush greenery was evidence of that. But the beauty of the terrain hid an acute form of harshness that became evident once we started speaking to some of the people.

It was May 2010. For miles on end, there seemed to be no habitation. An odd bicyclist, a small group of kids herding cattle, a group of women going to or coming back from their market place with little kids tied securely to their backs or carrying small loads on their heads was all that we could see. The road was basically a mud track.

As we reached Alere, the atmosphere was a festive one. There were festoons and flowers. Our arrival was treated by some enthusiastic ululating, applause and of course some thumping music and robust dancing. One could be forgiven for believing that it was indeed a festival – except that it was not. It was just because a new borehole with a handpump was being commissioned, bringing an end to the travails faced particularly by women and children in accessing water. I have often seen the elation when a facility as basic as water is made available, I do believe in its transformational value, but one can still sometimes not fathom how critical, life saving or life changing it can be !

After the rituals, it was time to have a few conversations. Almost all the people from the 200 odd households had assembled and seated themselves comfortably under the generous shade of the mango trees, laden with fruits. The storyline was fairly familiar – earlier, the only source of water was a small stream at a distance, women and girls had to regularly spend lot of time in collecting the water which often was not of good quality, cases of cholera and diarrhoea were high and sometimes, they were bitten by snakes or other insects as they went looking for water in the streams. But, there was much more.

This district was in proximity to the Karamoja region which had witnessed a long period of instability and conflict. This was the area where the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was operating. There were many cases of violence perpetrated by the LRA, but more worrying was that of children, particularly boys being abducted and trained to be child soldiers, ruining permanently their childhood and their innocence. The conflict brought in the military sent by the government to maintain peace, and there were often pitched battles between the LRA and the military. And the poor community got caught in the crossfire, with the LRA suspecting them to be sympathetic to the military, while the military suspecting them to protect LRA members. Either way, they had no choice, caught between the devil and the deep sea.

The Karamoja region is also home to a community known as cattle rustlers. They fundamentally believe that all cattle (cows in particular) anywhere in the world, belong to them. Their affinity to cattle often brought them in sharp conflict with other settlers, especially farmers. These cattle rustlers would come in hordes and forcibly take the cattle away. Cattle is valued in the area as they provide the most inflation busting insurance, an asset that is liquid only next to cash, and this was something very important for the impoverished community. But often, they had their cattle taken away by force – the ensuing violence in case of any resistance had also caused fatalities.

HIV/AIDS was a major scourge. It was quite widespread in the region. Worse still, because of the relative inaccessibility of villages and issues of conflict,  and of course government apathy and lack of resources, not much was forthcoming in terms of services or awareness. It was quite heart wrenching to see a frail elderly woman being the sole carer of six young children, since their parents had both died of HIV/AIDS. It was almost impossible for her or her grandchildren to work and fend for themselves, and they had to largely rely on the generosity of their (already impoverished) neighbours to bail them out. A small patch of a kitchen garden with some vegetables was probably the only ‘sustainable’ source of food for this family. Looking at the children, one wondered how long they would survive, for they looked extremely malnourished – and one would never know if they had been affected by the deadly virus !

And then, to make matters even more difficult was that this area was prone to flooding. A heavy downpour in the catchment areas meant that this community would be flooded. This was a rather regular occurrence during the monsoon season, thus further marginalising them.

The newly installed and inaugurated hand pump had thus to be seen in this context. A community that had almost given up any hope of anything that would be positive or transformational in their lives, had now reason to be optimistic and aspire for a brighter future. A young girl said that she aspired to be a teacher. Many adults nodded in agreement, saying that while their lives had been spent in despair, they had hopes for their children. Women said that precious time and immense toil could be saved with water almost at their doorstep. A lot of money (which was scarce anyway) could be saved for not having to pay for medicines. Children would be much less vulnerable to disease and death. But there was also reason for some mirth. A young man, thanking us for supporting the community with the hand pump said that his wife looked more beautiful now as she could bathe regularly, and that she also smelled good as she was using soap as well ! 

A LIBERATING EXPERIENCE !

The November morning air was crisp and dry. It was well past 10 a.m. and the roads of Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country of Burkina Faso were busy. A recent economic spurt and the relocation of several international operations from neighbouring country Cote d’ Ivoire because of conflict there had meant that Ouaga was much more happening city – it anyway had a reputation of being boisterous, and I remember lying awake all night in my hotel room because of the loud music blaring from the night club just across the road which was busy till the wee hours of the morning.

But this morning of 2011 was going to be a very different experience. We were making our way to the main prison in the country, right in the heart of the city, where we were to launch a ‘WASH in Prisons’ initiative (WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice. As we were driven in to the premises of the prison, we could see the dilapidated prison building, which even from a distance appeared to be in need of some urgent upkeep.

This was a prison meant to lodge 400 prisoners, but currently was bursting at its seams with an occupancy of 1,600 prisoners. There were separate sections for men, women and children and a separate section for prisoners charged with very serious crimes such as murder and rape. Our focus was on the sections meant for those charged with relatively minor offences such as theft. Of the 1,600 prisoners, 25 were women and 39 were boys in the 14-17 age group.

All the male prisoners were out in the open but confined to a compound within which there were bathing, washing and cooking facilities – very basic though. We were thus allowed to take a look at their rooms. Each room measured about 12 feet by 10 feet, and each room housed 6 – 10 men. At the corner of each room was a very basic toilet, probably measuring 3 feet by 3 feet, and most of them had just a curtain in place of a door. Lack of running water and blocked drains meant that the toilets were very dirty and the stench was unbearable even for the few minutes we spent there ! This was pretty much the condition of all the rooms we visited on all the three floors of the building meant for the men. The situation outside was terrible – with most of the sewer drains broken and in a state of complete disrepair, teeming with mosquitoes !

The female ward was much better and quite clean, probably because there were only 25 inmates, or probably because the women chose to keep it clean. Unlike the men who were busy bathing or doing odd errands in the public space, most of the women were in their rooms which were more like dormitories and were busy with cooking, cleaning, making bags or busy with their embroidery or tailoring.

The last section was meant for the children – and this was the most moving bit. These were children, just as old as mine, who probably had indulged in petty crimes either because of poverty or because of being misguided.  Their rooms were like dormitories as well, about a dozen boys in each, with some very basic bathroom and toilet facilities. The rooms were empty. All the boys were being taught by a local teacher in a classroom in the same section. As we walked into the classroom, they all stood up, respectfully and sat down only when the teacher asked them to. They could have been just like any other children of that age and at that time, in a regular school. But here they were, in the confines of a prison !

A discussion with our colleagues and the prison officials revealed that most of them were indeed quite poor and came from families who led difficult lives. They did not have the wherewithal to afford expensive lawyers to bail them out and they would probably be confined to this existence for several years.

What happened later was much more uplifting. The reason why we had launched this initiative was because the prison authorities were keen to spread hygiene awareness among them, so that they would be less prone to illness. They were hoping to raise resources from the government to get better and more toilets. But as part of this initiative, the prisoners were to be trained in latrine construction, so that these basic skills could come in handy on their release when they got back to their communities, and the more skilful and enterprising among them could also become masons.

The launch of the initiative was quite a fun filled event. There was a local comedian, a popular one, fluent in French and English, who was the master of ceremonies, who through his hilarious compering, drove home some serious messages on sanitation and hygiene. There were skits and role plays by the prisoners, including the children. There was a general sense of them wanting to do something to improve their lives and inject that bit of awareness and dignity in their drab lives within the prison. And there was hope – that the messages and skills they learnt here would be put to good use by them while they served their prison sentences and when they went back to their communities ! 

WHERE ARE THEY ?

It was a hot May afternoon in 2013. Returning to Hyderabad after several years, I could sense how this city had grown immensely, just going by the heavy traffic and the general buzz around the city – a city that had prospered in the modern era thanks to the IT boom. Cyberabad was an alternate name to the city.

But the main arterial roads do not tell the full story – and that is what we got to know from Chandbhai, one of the volunteers of Basti Vikas Manch, a local community forum of people (loosely translated as Neighbourhood Development Forum) living in low income settlements or basti of Bhokalpur. Their origins had an interesting yet tragic beginning.

The local community, who were supplied water through a network of pipes by their local utility were rudely awakened when contaminated water killed 30 people in a matter of few days in 2009. Till then, people were largely concerned about getting just about enough water in their locality. Little did they realise that this very water could one day be the cause of a major tragedy. The reason was that there was a sewer pipe that was running just above the water pipe, and leaks in both these pipes resulted in the water being contaminated.

30 deaths in a matter of a few days was indeed shocking, but the apathy of those responsible was even more so. When the local community members went to complain, they found that neither the officers of the utility nor their local elected representatives in the municipality were available. In a desperate act, they lodged a ‘missing report’ with the local police station, expressing concern for their officers and corporators who had gone ‘missing’. Thanks to some sympathetic journalists, they were also able to get media attention to a tragedy that could otherwise have gone unnoticed.

This terrible experience resulted in several positive benefits. Firstly, the local community decided that they had to be organised and that they could not simply rely on their elected representatives who had other vested interests. Basti Vikas Manch was a result of that realisation. A community that had a significant representation of both Hindus and Muslims and in a context that could potentially be sensitive and vulnerable to communal violence, it was important that local interests were way above narrow religious ones.

Secondly, the importance of safe water became very apparent. Water quality monitoring became important. They set up local labs with basic equipment to ensure regular testing of water quality. With a strong community forum, water supply was being monitored, but water quality monitoring was also given equal importance.

Thirdly, the community also realised the importance of proper sanitation facilities. Now this was a major challenge given the congested settlement. During my visit, they shared a new problem – a public toilet was demolished as those living near the toilet complained about stench. And while the men have an alternative of using the toilets of a mosque nearby, for the women, there was a serious concern about lack of facilities.

Things have now significantly improved, thanks largely to the dedicated work of the volunteers, cutting across social and economic groups in the community to ensure that people have access to water. Sanitation as a challenge is being addressed. But more importantly, their voice and organisation has been recognised by the local utility, who now urge them to come to them directly with their complaints before reporting it to the local media, a tactic they had used effectively in the past. It is not surprising therefore that the level of responsiveness of the service providers has significantly increased !