05/11/2025
๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ก๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ: ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐
For Andrew Mazuba, a farmer from Nteme community, water is more than a daily need, itโs the heartbeat of his home and the promise of his fields.
โWithout water, you always focus on how to get it, because water is life,โ says Andrew.
For years, families in Nteme struggled to access safe and reliable water. Women and children walked up to three kilometers every day to fetch water from boreholes or shallow wells, often unsafe and insufficient. During droughts, the struggle intensified. Rivers dried up, groundwater dropped, and animals had nowhere to drink.
โIโve lived here for almost 15 years, and water has always been a struggle. Even though we had boreholes, they often broke down, and during the dry season, they would run dry. Life was hard, especially for women who had to walk long distances carrying heavy buckets of water,โ Andrew recalls.
That reality began to change when the Nteme Project was introduced in Nteme community, transforming access to water and hygiene for more than 8,000 people.
The project established a solar-powered water supply system, including two boreholes, 40,000-litre storage tanks, and a network of 106 tap stands serving households, the Nteme Rural Health Centre, a school, and three animal troughs.
For the first time, clean water flows right where people live. Families can cook, clean, and water their gardens without fear of running out.
โNow, I no longer worry about where to find water,โ Andrew says with a smile.
Beyond infrastructure, the Nteme project focused on hygiene behavior change. Thirty community members were trained as Hygiene Behaviour Change Champions using a human-centered approach โ Assess, Build, Create, Deliver, and Evaluate. They now lead the Kutuba campaign, promoting handwashing and good hygiene practices across households and schools.
Healthcare workers were also trained in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) to ensure that both the health facility and the community remain safe and resilient, especially during outbreaks.
Today, Andrew volunteers as part of the local WASH Committee, helping ensure water is managed responsibly.
โWe make sure everyone has access. Water is shared fairly, and we take care of the system so that it lasts,โ he explains.
