TANZANIA: When a game in water changes lives in a village

It was a sunny day; many children played all sorts of games. Others followed their animals grazing in all directions. A boy walks holding a young steer of his flock by its tail. From the look of it the boy was having a lot of fun.

I arrived home the same day tired from a long journey. I felt I needed to rest before doing anything else. After a short while I took a nap that hot afternoon/ I went into a deep sleep. During this time a lot was happening not far from my home. I looked at my watch I realized I had slept for so long.

I woke up and went outside. From a distance one village leader saw me and decided to walk closer to where I was. We exchanging greetings then he asked me whether I knew what had happened a few hours ago.’ NO, I answered him. He then went ahead and narrated to me what had happened.

This is how it was. Some six children (4 boys and six girls) went to a dry riverbed. On the riverbed was a heap of sand that resembled a dune, pushed by some strong wave of water that meandered during the last rainy season.

Beside the heap of sand was small pool water. It became a spot for a game for two of the boys as the rest watched. Climbing the heap of sand and dropping into the pool while holding hands.They did this for quite a while. They went up and down, up and down. This time they did this and did not come out of the water. As the other two boys and girls waited patiently for them to come out of the water

After a long time of waiting the girls gave up and went back home. The other two boys patiently waited for the other boys but they too gave up in the process. One of them decided to pick their clothes and took them back home.

They arrived and narrated what had happened and immediately people ran to rescue them but it was too late. The boys had drowned. The village was in grate agony from the lost of the two boys.

This is not only dangerous for such children but also for girls and epileptic women who go fetching water from such places. Other activities such sand harvesting for commercial purpose are happening on this riverbed. Some women who fear falling into deep poorly dug wells, instead dig shallow holes on riverbed to scope out water. Goats, dogs and at night wild animals drink from these holes. This poses health hazard.

What the community lacks is the technical skills and knowledge on good types of wells. This changed the lives of the people. One of the mothers to the two was a single parent who's husband died some years ago and had only this son as an only child.

How to Get Involved

- Build the women capacity on health issues

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