Day 3 continued: Meeting with the Chief

Meeting with the Chief of Chipemebele and Ofonoka

Whilst we were visiting Chiyobola School we were given the chance to meet with the Chief of Chipemebele and Ofonoka wards. There was also representation from; the villagers, PTA, the council board and the head councillor for Chipemebele ward. The Chief is voted for by the ward (areas in Zambia are split into wards, there are 22 wards in the Monze district) and their name is then sent to the central Government. The President is then responsible for approving the wards choice of Chief.

The Chief of Chipemebele and Ofonoka wards

The role of Chief is to be the link between the communities and the central Government. Each Chief must be aware of what investment is being undertaken in their area so he has been very involved in the WaterAid work to date.

Before meeting the Chief we were given a briefing as to how to introduce ourselves to him. The tradition is to kneel in front of him, clap 5 times and shake his hand. It’s a very formal greeting but a sign of respect.

After we all introduced ourselves to the Chief I volunteered to give a presentation to the Chief and his delegates. I thanked them for the opportunity to spend time in his ward and gave them an insight into the aim of the trip and how we all intend to use our experiences to enthuse others about WaterAid.

Following my presentation the head councillor for the area welcomed the Chief and the WaterAid visitors and thanked us for all of our fundraising. He went on to tell us about the benefits the WaterAid investment had brought, the main one being that diseases had drastically reduced due to the access to safe water, sanitation and hand wash facilities. He also talked about the current challenges, such as having to walk for over an hour to another pump when the school pump is out of order. The councillor told us that himself and the council board had been in place since the WaterAid project had been established in 2007/08. He finished by introducing us all as supporters to aid the Governments efforts in supplying clean water and sanitation.

The Latrines and hand wash facilities installed in 2007/08

The meeting was closed by a speech from the Chief. He opened by thanking all the organisers of the WaterAid programme including delivery partners and advised that he had worked with WaterAid Monze since the water and sanitation issues were highlighted. He went on to talk about the benefits the WaterAid project brought, namely the reduction in cases of diarrhoea which is something that is no longer written about in his area as it’s no longer there. He said that he knows that WaterAid funds really do make a big difference. He continued to say that even though there have been numerous benefits he still feels that there are a few issues in the area; surrounding villages still drinking from contaminated streams and the nearest borehole being 3km away when the school pump is out of action. He urged us all to continue our support and take these messages back to the UK.

Question Time with the Chief

The Chief went on to allow us to ask him and his delegate’s questions:

Question 1: What are the other big challenges in his ward?

Answer: Medical facilities which are too far apart.

Question 2: What are your future aspirations for your ward?

Answer: To have sustainable toilets. The only issue they have is roofing which they need materials for like iron to sustain the toilets over time.

Question 3: Is there a particular area that is very hard to reach or provides significant challenges?

Answer: Longowi is an unreachable settlement. They still drink from contaminated streams and the village is cut off by mountains.

At the end of the question and answer session we finished the meeting by giving a gift to the Chief (bags of sugar and cooking oil). This seems to be a local tradition when visitors meet the Chief.

It was great getting to meet one of the local dignitaries and hear from him first hand the issues faced in his area.