By Rennie Tembo

Lilongwe, April 24, Mana: People of Lilongwe in the area of Traditional Authority Masula have applauded Water Mission Malawi for providing solar water pump equipment worth K445 million to help the people of the area access clean and potable water.

Speaking at Kalesi Community Ground in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Masula on Thursday during commissioning ceremony of the facility, Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Msinja South Constituency, Francis Belekanyama, said the facility will assist the people in his area, especially women, whom he claimed used to walk nearly 6 kilometers to fetch clean water.

 “It is a huge relief that this project has brought, making the people’s life easier. It has lifted the burden women had of waking up at dawn, or leaving home in the evening, searching for water, a task that was tiring and unsafe for them.

“Apart from walking long distances in search of clean water, we have also been hit with cholera outbreaks and one of the contributing factor was that a number of people were unable to access clean water,’’ he said.

Belekanyama then urged people in his area to take ownership of the facility by avoiding vandalism so that it lasts longer, serving the people.

Speaking in a separate interview, Sellina Mikayelo, a 48-year-old woman also thanked Water Mission Malawi for coming in with such project, saying they used to wake-up early in the morning, around 4am, to fetch clean water, an experience that put their lives at risk and disturbed several marriages.

“We have been experiencing an increase in waterborne diseases due to contaminated water since we would just opt to source water in the nearby streams; but now this project has changed that, and we are very grateful,’’ she said.

Water Mission Malawi Country Director, Nixon Sinyiza, said proper sanitation and healthy living cannot be achieved in the absence of safe and potable water.

“Access to clean water is an entitlement to every individual regardless of where they live. After conducting an assessment in the area we discovered that there were few clean water sources and some residents were traveling long distances just to access water.

“So we came up with a solution to install a water source powered by solar which distributes to 12 water points serving over 1, 517 households per point,’’ he said.

The project, which was funded by the Mckinnon Family from United States of America (USA) and it will provide safe and clean water to a population of 8,389 people in Kalesi village and surrounding areas.