Katerina Jacfod lives in Nselema village in the Niassa district of Mozambique with her husband and six children. Recently, with support and training from WaterAid's partner ESTAMOS, her community has built three wells and six new ecological sanitation (ECOSAN) latrines all with separate wash rooms attached. These projects have provided the community with simple, sustainable solutions to their water and sanitation problems.
"Before we used to collect water from a marshy area," Katerina explains. "Now we don't have to as we can use the well instead. There is a big difference between now and then. Before the water wasn't good. In the rainy season the rains would wash all of the rubbish from the village in to the water - faeces, dirt it all went in and it was filthy."
"Now it is better because the well is covered and so dirt and bugs can't get in to it and it is much closer to my house. My life is easier now because the water is closer. Before pigs drank from the same place and there were bugs in it too. When people collected water from there they got ill with things like diarrhoea. Before my children were often sick. But now we don't get diarrhoea and my children are very healthy. Other places nearby have had had cholera but we haven't because our water is clean."
The community were involved from the start of the project, through discussions they decided what they needed and where the wells and latrines should be built. After the planning stage they had a choice whether to contribute money, farm produce or work towards the construction of the schemes. This community chose to dig the wells and latrines - then a construction company completed the projects. There is also a village activist here who is responsible for telling people about hygiene, explaining how to use the new latrines properly and how to look after the wells and keep them clean.
"Our community decided that the best place to build the well was next to the mosque so that people can easily wash before they enter", says Katerina. "We chose to have a bucket for our well as it is very difficult to buy spares for handpumps here. The rope on the well broke recently and so now we are using a bicycle chain instead. This is much better as it lasts longer and we can buy them close by. Everyone looks after the well. Anyone who sees it is dirty cleans it."
"I now collect water from this well five times a day. I use it for washing, drinking, cooking and everything else. I use more water now than before and am always coming to the well as it is so close to my house."
Fatima Mamado, Katerina's neighbour is one of the villagers whose family now has an ECOSAN latrine. This toilet has twin pits and a separate wash room. While one pit is in use the other is sealed and the contents decompose into rich compost which they can then use for their plants. After using the latrine users add an ash/soil mix which helps make the compost and also acts as a kind of soap; as the users hands are dirty they wash them in the separate washroom.
"Before we had a pit latrine which was just a hole with wood across the top", she says. "This toilet is much better as the old one didn't have a slab. This one is properly covered and so there are no flies now and no smell."
"With the old one we had lots of flies which would go in to the latrine and then land on our food and then make pain in our stomachs. Now we don't have this problem. It is also good to have a washroom. Before they were in the same room and now they are separate which means we can use the washroom separately if we want to. It is much more private now." (Source: WaterAid / July, 2002)
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