Zambia: The people of Chikoyi in Luwingu district have praised the government for installing a mechanised water system in Chikoyi village. The government is making efforts to protect the people of the village from water-transmitted and water-borne diseases.
According to the government, the mechanised system has been installed using funding from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). It will cater for over 400 people in the village. The government claims that it has been installed at a cost of over K 80,000.
The Chikoyi Village Headman Richard Chikoyi says the people in the village are happy with the new development.
Chikoyi says for a long time the people in the area have been exposed to drinking contaminated water from shallow wells.
The village administration told the government that the situation was leading to harmful effects on the people of the country. The contaminated water exposed many families to waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea.
Further, Chikoyi hinted that most of the water people used to drink from shallow wells was contaminated due to the close proximity of pit latrines.
“Because of the near proximity to pit latrines most of the shallow wells are contaminated,” he said.
He said the community of Chikoyi is pleased to see the CDF funds being utilised on community projects. He acknowledged further that these projects have a huge impact on the livelihood of the people.
The village head Chikoyi has since appealed to the government to consider extending the water project to other parts of Luwingu. He argued that this initiative will further allow the locals of other communities to have access to clean water.
Meanwhile, the construction of the first Health facility in the Kasansa area in Luwingu has elated the majority of people in the area.
One of these is Sydney Charma, who says the coming of the health facility is a great relief to the people in the area.
Charma said people in the past used to suffer a lot as they were subjected to covering long distances in a bid to access health services.
He commended the government through the local authorities for approving and funding the project using CDF.
Charma however, appealed to the government to consider putting up housing units for health workers. He said this will attract health personnel to serve in rural areas.
