Day 3: Chiyobola School

Day3: Chiyobola School – Post Intervention (Latrines and Water Pump)

Today we visited Chiyobola Basic School in Monze district which is a post intervention area. It was only an hour’s drive from our hotel in Monze and the roads weren’t half as bad as the route to Haboombe. We received another extremely warm welcome when we arrived. All the children were gathered outside and 2 of the pupils recited some poems for us which they had written about water and sanitation.

A warm welcome from Chiyobola School

The school has 900 pupils in total ranging from age 6 all the way up to early 20’s. Children in Zambia start school at different ages and this is dictated by when the family sends them. Due to the vast number of pupils they attend in different time slots, some attend for a few hours in the morning and others in the afternoon. They all attend 7 days a week. Their journeys to the school range from a 15 minute walk to over an hour. They teach a range of subjects at the school including; English, Maths, History and Religious Education. There are 22 teachers at the school and 5 of them stay on site in the teacher’s houses. The children all seem to be quite ambitious and when asked what they would like to do when they grow up they replied with; Nurse, Soldier, Pilot and one even said a WaterAid supporter!

After our warm welcome from the school we then received a talk from the Chief Officer from the Local Authority and the Head of School. The school head talked all about the school and the help WaterAid had given them. He explained the partnership as “Swimming together in the river of development”, which I thought was very apt. He then went on to give a bit of history about the WaterAid project. In 2008 toilet blocks for the boys, girls and staff were constructed along with water tanks and taps which are used as hand washing facilities. These tanks are filled up every day by the pupils from the water pump about 100 yards away which was previously installed by the Local Authority.

Head of Chiyobola School with our translator

There was a WaterAid visit to the school in 2008 and the head of school made the comment that it was the footage and publicity from this visit which had put Chiyobola School on the map, at home and abroad. This just shows how worthwhile WaterAid trips are.

The school head went on to tell us about all the benefits which had resulted from the improved school facilities:

• Diseases have drastically reduced due to having access to clean water.
• There has been a 90% increase in girls attendance since 2008 due to them having somewhere private and safe to wash and use the toilet.
• Hygiene education is an important part of school life and has been extremely successful.
• The pass rate for girls has improved due to a better working environment.

Me outside one of the latrines which was built in 2008

He went on to say that although there have been numerous benefits realised there are still a few issues:

• At home kids still drink from contaminated water sources such as dams.
• The current water infrastructure is not sufficient, more pipes are required.
• If the schools water pump is out of action then the next available pump is a 30 minute walk away.
• The water pump is quite far from the school, if it was closer pupils wouldn’t need to miss as much school whilst filling up the hand wash facility water tanks.

Peter and Matt using the hand wash facility by the latrines

The school had also set up a good structure in order to maintain the latrines. The PTA has the responsibility to fix the latrines when cracks start to form. This is done through the schools Preventative Maintenance Committee. There is also a rule in place that states; if the cost of maintenance is below 500,000 kwacha (approx £60) then the school will cover the costs. If it’s above this then they can apply for funds from the Local Authority.

It was obvious that the WaterAid intervention had brought numerous benefits to the school, its staff and pupils but once these benefits are realised communities begin to think of future improvements that could make their lives even easier. It was great to see that people really bought into the benefits and were even thinking of future development opportunities.

Following on from the talk from the head of school we were given the chance to ask agroup of pupils a few questions about their school and daily life. One of the most startling revelations from this was the response we got from the question we asked about how many of them had lost one or both parents. We expected that a few of them may put their hands up due to the prevalence of HIV and water born diseases but we were taken aback when almost 80% of them put their hands in the air. This just proves how needed WaterAid is in a country like Zambia!

We were then taken down to be shown the water pump and get a chance to use it. We were surrounded by a large group of pupils from the school who were led into a song by one of the local councillors who was travelling with us. All the kids had such a sense of fun and I was surprised at how quiet and respectful they were even in a large group. They were extremely well behaved and seemed to have a lot of respect for their elders. One of the best parts of the morning was when we all taught the pupils how to do a Mexican wave. It took a few attempts to get it right but it was great fun teaching them.  

Me operating the hand pump at Chiyobola School