Water Woes For Caprivi Teachers

DEAR Editor, thanks for allowing me space in your esteemed newspaper.

I have decided to include an attachment in my letter so that readers can exactly get sense of what I’m writing about.
Please can the Government feel pity of these teachers in the flood plains of the Caprivi region and provide them with adequate safe drinking water?
The attachment was taken from one of these schools, Nankuntwe combined school 70 km east of Katima Mulilo.
They have to struggle to get water for cooking and drinking.
Please bear with me on this one, most of them have to at least fetch drinking water in one container in town and ferry it along to school. If this container gets empty, no more water to drink for the remaining three weeks.
The school has got no reliable sources of water. The only water available is that which remains in the swamps after the flood has subsided. This water is not healthy at all because it’s not running. It contains plenty of bacteria, it’s even red in colour.
As villagers do not have toilets, they use nature at all times.
These materials are carried along by running flood water and when it subsides, they are left in swamps where these pitiful teachers fetch water for drinking and cooking. Please can the Government do something. Anything that can be done, however small, will be appreciated. Even a borehole can be OK for them.
Education officials please reach these schools and see how they suffer. Otherwise the health of these teachers is at risk.
No wonder why the life expectancy of Namibians is so short. These are the contributing factors.
Please save the lives of these loyal teachers.

Calvin S Mabuta
Via e-mail