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Recently, ActionAid Zimbabwe(AAZ) officially handed over a manual borehole to the Nyagwande community in Nyanga ward 7 as a temporary measure to ease the water woes in the interim as it fundraises more to solarize the water source.
According its Facebook page post, AAZ said the bush pump was drilled and installed under the People’s Postcode Lottery TORCHES (Towards Resilient Communities with Health, Equity & Safety for all) project aimed at creating communities where women and girls, including people with disabilities, are free from violence and have amplified voices and agency.
Through support from a plethora of partners, it has been learnt that the project is being spearheaded in various communities.
“The project is being implemented in Nyanga, Chitungwiza and Shamva by a consortium of four partners namely Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT), Forum for African Women Educationalists Zimbabwe (FAWEZI); Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe (LCDZ) and ActionAid Zimbabwe (AAZ) as the funding partner. The funds are being donated by the Players of People’s Postcode Lottery through ActionAid UK,” the post reads.
AAZ said the new commissioned borehole has brought relief to 32 households now accessing safe drinking water.
The previous borehole stopped working in 2009 and since then and it has been a struggle for the community to access water as they had to walk for more than two km to access the nearest water point.
This exposed women and girls to violence as they had to wake up early and travel in the dark to fetch water.
“During the hand-over ceremony, women narrated how they were made to pay Rand5 to get water from the neighboring village. This was an ordeal to them due to the harsh economic challenges being faced by many Zimbabweans. The lack of water exposed women and girls vulnerable to gender-based violence.The provision of water has ensured protection of women as the borehole is now in their village.”
The borehole is also serving as a safe meeting place for the TORCHES Start Awareness, Support Action (SASA) Community activities aimed at combating GBV at all levels of community.