Inside Blantyre

On Wednesday, we went to several peri-urban areas in Blantyre, which are essentially city slums. First we went to the Water Utility Association and met with the board members, which consisted of various members of the community including members of Parliament, members of the City Board, religious figures and members of the community. This group was formed in order to give some ownership and accountability to the implementation of water improvement projects and is supported by Water for People. I may have mentioned this before, but one of the unique aspects of the Water for People organization is that they partner with local residents and agencies in order to make this a sustaining organization instead of one that only provides handouts.

The first area we went to did not have any decent water facilities. In fact, they pulled their water from a small stream near where sewage is literally running through the streets.



From there, we went over to one of the new water kiosks that was provided through Water for People in conjunction with the Water Utility Association. There was an extremely long line for the water, and it was around noon. They impose tariffs, which are relatively small, on the people obtaining water. Even though the line was long, the morale in this area of the community was much better than where there was no water.


From there, we drove through some prareas to get an idea of the living conditions of the peri-urban areas. In one area, we drove as far as we could and in the distance saw a small area that the local people call the "island." Which is not really an island, but rather an isolated area where people live right next to the dump. It wasn't a city dump that is managed, but it was an area that people hauled their trash to. To give you an idea of how horrid it was, we sat in the car for about 10 mins while we were given an explanation of the area and there were easily over 100 flies in the van. Yeah, I was a bit freaked out.

After that, we went to another area of town considered to be the most poor. While there was water available from the water mains, there were sanitation issues. This picture is from a latrine that just discharges out of the back of the latrine. Water for People has designated a sanitation entrepreneur and he has been working with local masons to build new composting latrines.

One of the most On Wednesday, we went to several peri-urban areas in Blantyre, which are essentially city slums. First we went to the Water Utility Association and met with the board members, which consisted of various members of the community including members of Parliament, members of the City Board, religious figures and members of the community. This group was formed in order to give some ownership and accountability to the implementation of water improvement projects and is supported by Water for People. I may have mentioned this before, but one of the unique aspects of the Water for People organization is that they partner with local residents and agencies in order to make this a sustaining organization instead of one that only provides handouts.

The first area we went to did not have any decent water facilities. In fact, they pulled their water from a small stream near where sewage is literally running through the streets.

From there, we went over to one of the new water kiosks that was provided through Water for People in conjunction with the Water Utility Association. There was an extremely long line for the water, and it was around noon. They impose tariffs, which are relatively small, on the people obtaining water. Even though the line was long, the morale in this area of the community was much better than where there was no water.

From there, we drove through some areas to get an idea of the living conditions of the peri-urban areas. In one area, we drove as far as we could and in the distance saw a small area that the local people call the "island." Which is not really an island, but rather an isolated area where people live right next to the dump. It wasn't a city dump that is managed, but it was an area that people hauled their trash to. To give you an idea of how horrid it was, we sat in the car for about 10 mins while we were given an explanation of the area and there were easily over 100 flies in the van. Yeah, I was a bit freaked out.

After that, we went to another area of town considered to be the most poor. While there was water available from the water mains, there were sanitation issues. This picture is from a latrine that just discharges out of the back of the latrine. Water for People has designated a sanitation entrepreneur and he has been working with local masons to build new composting latrines.

One thing that was really hard to deal with was all of the pollution in the streams near the houses that kids were playing in and ultimately ended up in their drinking water. I'm so happy that something is being done here.