Woody M.Collins
writes in general about D.R.C.'s water problems.
Cholera outbreak
Here is his latest post about the recent water-borne disease cholera's
outbreak in DR-Congo.
He asks:
''How far down the
Congo River will the current cholera outbreak reach? Kinshasa, the
third largest urban area in Africa, with a population of 10 million
people lies on the Congo River. …''
He bases his
information on a link, that no longer works, but this one does.
When Peasant Solidarity
has finished building the second public water post in Kalima, 4,800
people will be less likely to catch the disease.
However that still leaves 80% of
Kalima's residents at risk.
As you will see from the following video, UNICEF has helped in other parts of DRC, but so far their help has not yet reached Kalima.
I
have got friends - Facebook friends, but friends all the same, in a
town called Kalima, Maniema Province in DR-Congo. Alphonse, Etienne
and Marceline have never been to Europe, I have never been to
DR-Congo and we do not speak each other's native languages. So we
chat mainly in Esperanto, but sometimes also in French. Although our
friendship is virtual we have got to know about each other's every
day lives, our hopes and our fears.
Here they are!
Etienne
Marceline, Etienne's wife(on the left)
Alphonse
Because, like everybody else,
they watch television and have access to the internet, nobody needs to tell them
about our seemingly unlimited supply of water, electricity and WiFi,
that we have got public transport and it works efficiently, that we
have got a national health service and that our children get ten
years' free elementary education etc. etc.
I too know that they have
not got any of those amenities. Etienne is a practical visionary.
Although he dreams of the day when 100% of Kalima residents are in
the same enviable position, he knows that even wishing for one tap
per household is utopian.
Yes,
what Etienne, Alphonse and Marceline are most concerned about is the
water situation in their part of the world. As members of the N.G.O.Peasant Solidarity the lack of clean drinking water – is their
number one priority. Since 2013 they have succeeded in improving the
situation. In 2012 approximately 2% of the 136,000 + residents *had
access to clean water. By the end of 2014 10% had access to it. They
did this with financial help from foundations and individual
do-gooders and their own sheer hard work and determination. This photo album shows how they constructed a public water post in December 2014.
This
year they hope to continue the good work, but this can only happen if
they get enough funds to do so. They plan to build a public water
post in one of the districts. All in all it will cost 11,000 Euro.
So far A.V.E. (Green Esperantists) has raised 10,400 Euro: 7,000 Euro from two German foundations and the rest from private
contributors. All they need is another 600 Euro.
If
they get enough money the water post will look like the one in the
following photo. It will provide clean water for 4,800 people.
If
not it will be business as usual. These 4,800 fellow human beings
will have to rely on water from sources like the following.
Alphonse
has given me permission to share the following photos and video.
Although they were taken in Goma, they are still relevant, because
Goma residents have precisely the same kind of problems.
The
photos show the multitude of plastic containers that the local people
use to collect their daily water supply. They get up every single
day at 4 am and walk miles to collect water before they can get on
with all the other jobs. What is particularly horrifying is, that the water is polluted and it is the
women and especially the young girls who do this back-breaking and
often dangerous work. Dangerous, because far too often they get
raped on their way there or back. Although emancipated feminists like
me can be appalled knowing that husbands, brothers and fathers do not
safeguard their women folk, it is not, in my opinion, our job to
finger-wag.
Some seem to be able to make a living selling it in town:
The
woman in the following video tells Alphonse, that it is good to have water near
home, but often there is not enough of it, because there are so many
people that need it.
She
puts her finger on the problem: too many needy people and not enough
help either from the DR-Congolese government or prestigious agencies
in the outside world. Although do-gooders and tiny organisations
cannot save the world they seem to be the only ones who do close
their eyes to their problems.
*They
cannot say exactly how many people live in the town, because in 2013
they accommodated about 5,000 of the internally displaced
DR-Kongo's Shabunda district. ''They'' being ordinary citizens who
welcomed the newcomers in their own homes. Generosity is not only the
prerogative of rich do-gooders.
My friends in Peasant Solidarity need help to help themselves.
Please show your solidarity. If 120 people give 5 Euro each they will be able to start work on the water post.
Payment
options.
1.
PayPal: If you wish to use this option, please send me a mail
informing me, how much you would like to donate. chatterjeebetty@hotmail.com
2.
Danes can either send money to Danske Bank BIC/Swift: DABADKKK 0274-4594628225
OR by
Mobile Pay (+4542211972). Please label the contribution 'water for
Kalima 2015'
3. UEA
members can send contributions to UEA-konto de AVE:
avex-z
4.KATCHELEWA
KANDOLO Etienne,
Goma, D.R. Congo
Bank : BIAC (International Bank for Africa in
DR-Congo
Adresse:
Avenue Butembo, Quartier de Turisme, Goma, DR-Congo
The grand total for this collection is 400 euros, which I have sent to the NGO Peasant Solidarity. I should lke to thank the five generous people that have helped me raise money for this cause.
400 euros is a drop in the ocean, but fortunately generous donors in Germany have promised them 5000 euros. Should anybody be interested in helping these people get what most of us take for granted and often waste - i.e. clean water you will find all the relevant information in the previous blog articles.
Last week four italiens visited Peasant Solidarity in Kalima DR Congo.
They saw with their own eyes not only what has been done so far, but also what remains to be done.
Etienne was their guide in chief.
Their main achievement was repairing Kalima General Hospital's water system.
98% of Kalima's residents rely on water from impure sources like this one.
Kalima is a challenging place to visit: no airport, no railway station and the roads are very poor. These visitors travelled by motor-bike from Kindu, the regional capital of Maniema Province.
How is the fund-raising project going?
So far only 263 euros! My original aim was to collect 4000 euros by the 1st September, this year. With only two months to go all contributions will be gratefully received.
1. PayPal: If you wish to use this
option, please send me a mail informing me, how much you would like to
donate. bettychatterjee68@gmail.com
2. Danes can send money to Danske Bank 0274-4594628225. Please include label 'water for Kalima'
When I travel abroad
I am wary about drinking the local tap-water. If I am in the least bit
worried, I buy bottled water. At home I very rarely do that; Danish
water is safe.
What would I do, if
I were to travel to DR Congo? I would buy bottled water. A Congolese friend told me, that even in the capital, Kinshasa, the
water is not safe.
According to an
article by Rebecca Shore '' For the privileged Congolese, they
have the ability to buy imported bottled water, but at a very steep
price. One liter bottle of water costs about $1, which is extremely
cheap to Americans, but for many Congolese who make less than $2 a
day, it is an impossible luxury. As a result, those who do not have
money do not have access to clean water.''
What do the citizens of
Kalima do?
According to Etienne Katchelewa bottled water is not even
on sale in the local shops – there is no market for it, because it
is too expensive. Miners, who are employed by Sakima a company in Kalima earn
between 200 – 250 $ a month – about 8 $ a day, would
never dream of splashing out on impossible luxuries.
So far my 'one man
band' appeal has been a relative flop! Read all about it in my blog entries in April this year. My aim is to collect 4000 euros
before the 1st September, so far there are 209 euros in
the kitty.
In the next four
months many of us are going to travel abroad and will spend money on
bottled water – just to be on the safe side. A half liter bottle of
water will cost about 1 euro. If 3800 travelers donate the
equivalent of one bottle of water before the 1st
September, I will be able to send a donation of 4000 euros to
Peasant Solidarity in Kalima.
1. PayPal: If you wish to use this
option, please send me a mail informing me, how much you would like to
donate. bettychatterjee68@gmail.com
2. Danes can send money to Danske Bank 0274-4594628225. Please include label 'water for Kalima'
This bottle cost me 1 euro. If 3800 people send me 1 euro, my campaign will succeed.
Yesterday PeasantSolidarity's treasurer, Marceline Bora, kindly wrote to me about women's
everyday life in Kalima. Marceline's mail was in French and the
following account, though not a literal translation, contains the
information she sent me.
By profession Marceline Bora is a librarian.
''My name is
Marceline Bora and I am a member of Peasant Solidarity. You asked me
to tell you about the situation of women and their employment outside
their homes.
This is a very
interesting topic. In addition to a woman's domestic duties that
include collecting water, sending the children off to school,
cooking, housework, preparing lunch for her husband she also goes out
to work; for example cultivating ground-nuts and manioc, running a small
business or mining cassiterite.*
Sometimes
the women who work on the land raise $ 100 – 120, with which they
buy beans that they then sell in the local market or send to nearby
cities, such as Goma or Bukavu in the north or Kivu in the south. In
return either they get paid in cash or more often in kind. It is a
barter economy where for example, loincloths are exchanged for rice,
dried fish, salt, soap or other necessary commodities.
Many women
in Kalima work in the mining industry. For example, a
woman may buy a plot of land and employ others to mine it for them.
After paying their wages the rest of the profit is her's. She may at
the same time decide to open a small restaurant for the miners, who
either pay her in the local currency, or US dollars or a few grams of
cassiterite ore. Other women prepare food for the miners and they get paid in cash or kind at the end of the week.Others sell the
dried meat of game hunted in the forests. From
the age of ten school girls work part time too. They work so they can
earn money to pay school fees, as their parents often cannot afford to pay them.
Strong and
resourceful women, who are lucky enough to work the land, find jobs
or start small businesses, have to work extremely hard -
irrespective of their marital status.
Work-places are often a long way from their homes, so they set off at
5 a.m and get home at 6 p.m. They spend their evenings catching up on the housework, cooking etc.
The
current serious problems in Kalima started after the mining company
Sominki went bankrupt in 1996. It had not only provided jobs, it had
also promoted the employees welfare and helped maintain the
town's infrastructure. Day by day social conditions are
deteriorating. There are no banks and no savers' credit unions. In
order to survive and support their families less robust or less
fortunate women do what they have to do; this means prostituting
themselves. The consequences are HIV -AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases, divorces and the resulting social problems.
In short, this is how women in Kalima live their lives.
*Cassiterite is an
essential ore needed to produce tin, which is used to make tin cans
and solder for circuit boards of electronic equipment e.g mobile
phones and computers.
Today I started a Facebook page to promote this campaign.
Here is what I wrote:
''Recently, one of my Esperanto-speaking
friends from DR-Congo told me about the problems in his home-town,
Kalima in Maniema Province. He then asked me to help him raise money
to help solve the most pressing one; the lack of clean drinking
water.
Although I already knew the dry facts
about high infant mortality, malnutrition, lack of clean drinking
water, rape, illiteracy, corruption and desperation in DR Congo,
hearing about them from somebody living there, brought these facts
painfully home to me. There were two options:
Either to make a few sympathetic
comments before finding an excuse to finish the conversation, Or
toagree to try
and help him.
I chose the second option.
My
Congolese friend Etienne Katchelewa is a university trained
agronomist. During his student days, he and some of his fellow
students founded the association Peasant Solidarity. whose aim was,
is and will be to promote socioeconomic and agricultural development
in Kalima and the surrounding area. In spite of their very limited
funds, they have promoted fish-farming, animal husbandry and courses
on improved agricultural techniques.
Peasant Solidarity's top priority
for 2014 is to provide safe drinking water.
Only 2,6% of the
136,000 of Kalima residents have access to clean drinking water.
Infant mortality due to waterborne
diseases is about 35%.
In most countries it would be the
State's responsibility to ensure that citizens do not die from
drinking dirty water. The organization REGIDESO has a monopoly for
providing drinking water in DR Congo, but unfortunately it does not
operate in Kalima or in Maniema Province. So if Peasant Solidarity
cannot solve the problem, who will?
Etienne has drawn up two
plans with an estimated cost between 247,047 and 861,906 euros. The
first plan would provide safe drinking water for part of the town and
the second one would solve the problem for everybody.
Has nobody helped them so far?
Fortunately, yes.
In 2013 the Association of GreenEsperantists gave them 380 euros which enabled they spent on
improving a number of their fish- ponds. Local residents are now able
to buy locally produced fish and the modest profits have helped
Peasant Solidarity cover other expenses.
In 2013 a German
firm, Wasserkraft Volk AG gave Peasant Solidarity 3000 euros, which
they spent on drinking water installations for Kalima General
Hospital and the surrounding area. It was the first step towards
completing their ambitious but absolutely essential project.
It
would be a dream come true, if enough ordinary people, like you and
me, made enough contributions to raise the 861,906 euros necessary
for fulfilling their most ambitious plan.
However let us be realistic. Nobody
ever climbed Mount Everest in one day. My primary, cautiously
optimistic goal is to raise 4000 euros by1st September 2014. The
total so far is 185 euros.
Some of the most kind-hearted
people in the world cannot afford to make donations. If you cannot
afford to make a contribution, please help the cause by telling your
friends and family about it. Of course contributors are welcome to do
that too.
Please let this appeal go viral!''
When I began campaigning I suggested that people could contribute by Caremaker. This is still a possibility, but you can contribute in other ways too:
1. PayPal: If you wish to use this option, please send me a mail informing me, how much you would like to donate. bettychatterjee68@gmail.com
2. Danes can send money to Danske Bank 0274-4594628225. Please include label 'water for Kalima'
According to
ChartsBin an average Dane uses
120.9 cubic meters water a year and the average person in DR Congo uses only
11.55 cubic meters.
What a big difference, but it is hardly surprising!
If we had to walk long distances to find water and carry it home again, we too would reduce
our water consumption.
In Kalima young
girls fetch water for their families. They get up very early, every
morning, 365 days a year and walk sometimes a long way to and from
the nearest river or lake. A strenuous start to the day like that
leaves them with very little energy for other activities. Even worse, for the following reason,
it can also be very dangerous.
Kalima, situated in
one of the most unruly parts of the country, is still suffering from
the aftermath of the war that started in 1998, which some people
call 'Africa's first world war'. Many of the combatants tried to
subdue their enemies by raping them. Rape is still very common, and
these girls risk rape every morning. Etienne Katchelewa told me that
it is a taboo subject so he does not have any statistics, but some of
the girls have confided in him. When a rape results in a pregnancy
the girl's family often shuns her.
The following video
is shockingly informative.
Conclusion
Thesuccessful implementation of Peasant Solidarity's clean-water project would also be a step in the
I never, ever have to worry about where
my next glass of water is coming from.
When
I am thirsty, I go into the kitchen, turn on the tap, fill my glass
with water and quench my thirst.
I
never have to ask myself, whether it will give me diarrhea or worse.
Our water is clean, easily available and I take it for
granted.
The
situation for people in many other parts of the world is completely
different.
Etienne
Katcheleva is one of my Esperantist Facebook friends. Some time ago, he told me some of the hard facts about the water situation in his
home town in the still troubled eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According
to a report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP):
''The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) possesses over half of
Africa’s water reserves, yet 74 percent of its population – or
approximately 51 million people – lack access to safe drinking
water.''
Etienne,
who is an agronomist, comes from a small town called Kalima , which
lies 100 kms northeast of Kindu, the capital of the eastern province
of Maniema. When Etienne was a student, he and some of his friends started
a N.G.O. called Peasant Solidarity. Their aim was and still is to combat poverty
by encouraging more and better horticulture, fish-farming and animal
husbandry. However their number one priority is the provision of
water, pure uncontaminated water for the everybody in the area.
Etienne
told me that only 2% of the 136000 residents in Kalima have access to
safe drinking water. The rest have to depend on untreated water from
badly maintained reservoirs and other unsafe sources. Etienne told me, that last year 34% of the infant mortality rate was due to diarrhea.
According
to local custom, young girls collect the water, and they have to
walk a very long way to find it. It is not just hard work, it can
also be dangerous, because sometimes they are attacked and raped en
route. As it is a taboo subject, it is difficult to tell how big a problem it is.
Etienne
has drawn up a plan to provide safe drinking water for the people in
Kalima. The only snag is money. He has proposed two
schemes. The first one, would provide safe drinking water for part
of the town at a cost 247,047 euros and the second one, which would
cost 861, 906 euros, would solve everybody's problem.
Wasserkraft
Volk AG ,Peasant
Solidarity received
a grant of 3380 euros, which covered the cost of water
installations for the Kalima General Hospital, and a few of its immediate
neighbors.
They
have applied for grants from other firms and organizations, but so far
they have been unsuccessful. Possibly you are wondering why a
governmental agency does not step in to help them. Well, REGIDESO
which has a monopoly of drinking water in DR Congo does not operate
in Kalima or in the province of Maniema.
If
you would like to read more about the history of this NGO Etienne's
blog
has been partly translated into English and the blog's numerous
photos speak for themselves.
For
further information or to make a contribution please get in touch with
Peasant Solidarity
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