“A clean community is a healthy community”

The fair about water and sanitation was held in the city of Alamikangban on October 18, with the support of Save the Children, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and the municipal mayor. The participation was a success because around 500 people came (and there are 560 residents in this city). 300 of them were children. “We are very happy because a lot of people came today” says Lucila González, the team leader of the project.

Very early, the volunteers came to go to set the stage,  arrange the gifts and so on. Children of elementary and secondary school went to the fair playing instruments, all of them with Save the Children’s t-shirts. It was very warm but they still were very excited and happy.  "I'm having a great time but it is very hot" says Yeilin , a eight years old girl.

At the event, there were contests (like hand washing ) and explanations about the different ways to ensure that our water is safe. A clown was responsible for encouraging the day. He asked the children or adults how we can keep our water clean or how it is chlorinated. “The safest way is using the water filter, but we can also boil it " says Ronaldo , a 10 years old boy.

There were musicians cheering the entire fair, they composed four very funny songs about good hygiene practices. Many children's parents were also there. "I'm loving the show because children learn and have fun", says Sonia Chow , mother of three children .

Working with the population

I was surprised to see how well the volunteers have worked. There have been around 100 and have been working hard for weeks, they are boys and girls from 16-25 years old. "We are supporting this project because it is very important that people in our community consume water in good condition. For years, we have been using water from the river but already it is very polluted and we cannot keep doing it ", says a volunteer.

Volunteers and SC team

50 of the volunteers were trained on the proper use of water, good practices with the wells, chlorination, and so on. They also were trained as spokespersons. After this, they went house to house explaining what they learned to the families of the community. They always were accompanied by our team to feel integrated. Even the man who drives the boat, with which we are going to communities along the river, has helped us a lot.

The people of this community is very poor, however, they have worked hard and have supported us in everything they could. To involve them in the project, we did a Fair Committee where everyone said how they could help. In total, there were 16 cleanups. Kids painted a mural at the school about the correct use of water and maintenance of latrines.

“There have been many sick children by drinking contaminated water. So, people are worried and they were very involved in this project. In the hospital there many children with diarrhea. To avoid that, you have to clean the water, chlorinate, filter it… This is necessary to preserve our health” explains one of the volunteers, a 20 years-old boy, he’s very nice and tries to speak Spanish as well as possible. Overall, all the people here are very friendly although the language barrier is strong.

The fair was in the path of the river, and you could see a lot of signs with sentences like “A clean community is a healthy community” and its translation into Miskito-> "Mihtam Sikbaia ba Amia Tikpara” 

Working with the mayor

According to an official of the Municipality, Dennis González, now that the wells are rehabilitated and families have learned to keep them clean, it will be easier for the next flood.

Due to the limited amount of groundwater in this area, in the next rainy season (June to November), the river will flood, but families will be able to respond it.

"There are many sick children by water. Lot of people have diarrhoea, skin diseases, allergies ... People are worried"

"Throughout the month there have been about 100 volunteers. If we want that they are motivated, they must be integrated into the project and involved in activities throughout their participation. It is very necesary teach them and explain them why it is so important.  If they understand, they take part of the action. This is the only way to empower people"

“I loved the fair, it was really fun, all my friends enjoyed it a lot” says Anielka, a 14 years-old girl. 

Something happened to me that I really liked . I was talking with mothers, so that they give me permission to use photographs of their children ( necessary procedures to ensure child protection ) , and all asked me to do photos of their children and they thanked me. This already happened to me and I like it because it gives you the opportunity to talk to them calmly , ask them their daily lives, and so on. But there was something that I particularly liked . A woman came to me and said "ask me things".

Sonia and her baby

This woman, Sonia, lives in a situation of extreme poverty, has 4 children and live in a palm leaf house; her husband is working out of town for months. In these houses, the people who live here can not afford a house of wood and zinc. Later, I thought about what it must shatter the house every time it rained. I talked with her a long time and saw the need that someone gave her "voice", that someone would listen her to denounce the situation in which she lives. Still, Sonia did not complain, did not ask for things and tried to ease her problems, she just wanted to show their reality.

Sonia had her first child when she was 14. Here, sexual violence against children and teenagers is a widespread and serious problem, because most perpetrators are never reported. The first semester of this year, in this municipality, there were more than 345 pregnant girls under 18, 40 of them are 10 to 14 years.
Despite Sonia has to fight so hard to care for her family, she supports a lot her children for them to go to school.

"I take care of water and clean my community"

This project of Emergency Response ends on October 30. Throughout the month, educational activities on water and sanitation have been made in the 10 indigenous communities, after the cleaning and rehabilitation of wells in September.

competition "hand washing"

  Under the slogan "I take care of the water and clean my community, for the health and safety", fairs were held in 10 indigenous communities to train them in the promotion of safe water. The last fair will be on Friday 18 in the departmental capital, Alamikangban.

The workshops were attended by 52 brigades of Alamikangban: on safe water, cholera, good practice. A team of volunteers went door to door talking about safe water.

The people in the fairs were very happy, there were competitions, prizes and entertainment. Most participants were children.

In the communities and in Alamikangban, the team promoted the cleaning services through competitions like “the cleanest house”. The mayor cleared the streets. A group of musicians created a song about the proper use of water. We trained families to keep clean the wells.

Using water filters.

Poster "how to chlorinate"

The communication team creates and edits educational materials in Spanish and Miskito language, including 5 radio messages. It is very important that all the material is in Miskito, as there is little material in the native language, even though the vast majority of the population only speaks this language. We made two posters, they explain how to conserve water and maintain hygiene and how to chlorinate water. The posters were distributed to every house and community sites.

Poster of good hygiene practices

During these months, Save the Children’s team has worked very hard and very effectively to achieve the expected results of the project. The head of the mission, Lucila Gonzalez, and technicians, Jairo Bayardo and Jesús Flores, have worked in all the communities and have taken care of the logistics, besides their work as water and sanitation technicians.

winner of "Cleanest house"

Water and sanitation

People of the indigenous community  drawing clean water from the well

On August 26, the technical team of Save the Children in this emergency started the process of cleaning, disinfecting and rehabilitation of wells. 

Water and sanitation project in Auhya Pura

Samples of contaminated water tests in Tuburus

They covered 23 wells in eight communities (two of them have none) and only 21 are active because two wells are so dirty that they have to do bacteriological testing.

A man getting into the well to clean inside.

All wells were contaminated by the overflow of the river and for malpractice, because nobody makes water treatment. Most wells have no fences, therefore, are exposed to contamination by animal fecal waste.

Until today, 265 households have benefited from the project and have wells in good condition. In total, the population with safe water is 1373, of whom 658 are children (265 boys and 393 girls). It remains only to treat the wells of the city Alamikamba.

Cleaning and disinfection processes were carried out with the Save the Children team and with help of the indigenous people. In most communities, the population was very involved in the process and we worked well with them, especially in Aukamango, Limbaica and Galilea.

SC staff cleaning wells

People are concerned about the situation of the wells because, as the river is polluted, the only way to consume water is using rainwater. However, the dry season begins in November. So far, they have been 

collecting rainwater, most houses have containers for this. In the communities of Bethel and Dos Amigos there are no wells.

Inside the well

Summary, food distribution process:

We were a team of five people: the team leader -expert in this area-, two technicians -experts in water and sanitation-, a translator of Spanish-Miskitu, and me -communication and advocacy department-. We are based in Alamikamba, but bought the food in Siuna, a city near to Alamikamba, because the prices were better, despite we had to pay for transportation.

We store the food bags in the office of Save the Children in Alamikamba –where we also slept-. Every morning, we carry a boat with the aid for the communities that we would assist. We already knew how many households had per community, thanks to the census we did before we started the distribution process. 

We started the distribution on the most remote communities from Alamikamba the second week. 

We use two boats to serve the greatest number of people per day. All the staff traveled by speedboat but one of the technicians, who was traveling in other with the food supplies. This second boat was much slower due to the weight of the cargo.

We used to start at 5 or 6am; distances are large and from 6pm is night in Nicaragua, so we have forbidden traveling across the river for safety.

We arrived first, so we could start the process: with the census, we gave food ticket to one person per home, who told us how many people live in the same household, ages and sex. This process used to take two hours, depending on the size of each community. Then, the boat with the load came, and the bags were distributed to the people with a ticket.

• First day: Auhya Pura, Tuburus and Bethel. We spent almost 2 hours by speedboat. The slow one arrived 5 hours later. Bethel was the last one. The conditions in these three communities are very poor. 12.08.13
• Second day: AukaMango and Dos Amigos. We realized that the communities that are further away of Alamikamba have worse conditions. The problems are more severe between the populations closer to the Atlantic coast. 13.08.13.
• Third day:  Galilea, Buena Vista and Limbaica. These communities are closer to Alamikamba and we could appreciate that the conditions are better. 14.08.13
• Fourth day: Klarindan and Ladricola. The situation is also better. 15.08.13

Total of beneficiaries

Community	Houses	Children	Adults	Total
Auhya Pura	31	113	84	197
Tuburus	18	62	48	110
Bethel	33	139	91	230
AukaMango	46	153	97	250
Dos Amigos	68	242	167	409
Galilea	54	168	136	304
Buena Vista	54	172	129	321
Limbaica	56	152	153	305
Klarindan	40	88	92	180
Ladricola	74	190	178	368
Total	474	1479	1195	2674

General impressions

Most communities have the same problems, though are more severe near the coast.

• All the wells are contaminated; in Bethel and Dos Amigos there are none.
• In every community, there are sick people from drinking dirty water. But there are no health post in almost any community.
• In most, mud and sludge flood everything. The hygienic conditions –and the latrines- are terrible. In addition, there are animal droppings everywhere, including around wells and schools.
• The quality of education is not good; children cannot even finish elementary education in most communities. In none of them they can study high-school.
• Almost anyone can write; most of the beneficiaries have signed with the initials of their names or fingerprint.
• No birth control at all; numerous families living in poor conditions. We have also realized that there are only 97 people older than 60 years old (1197 adult population in total).
• There is no good communication system or emergency alert; the most dangerous is when there is none.
• People have lost most of their crops and this aid only solves the problem for a week. In my opinion, the situation will be worst when the food runs out, because many really have not anything else.

Children are very curious and tender in all communities. Although they do not speak Spanish, they approach me; teach me the school, like to see the photos I do. I'm the only non-Nicaraguan member of the team and many people ask me where I come from, where is my country or if I miss my family.  

People who talk to me are very polite and respectful. The teacher of Dos Amigos asked me "are you all right here? Do not mind being surrounded by so many different people to you? I have seen that you speak with a lot of persons. Sometimes when foreigners come to work with organizations, they do not want to leave the ship or talk to anyone, only with their partners ".

I can imagine how
I can imagine how uncomfortable you feel when someone does not want to approach you for any reason. We have not had any problems in the communities, quite the opposite. They have always been hospitable and friendly.

We are very expected; since the boat is approaching, many people come out to welcome us. Furthermore, many people wait until we went to say goodbye.

Limbaica, Galilea and Buena Vista indigenous communities

14.08.13

Limbaica

“I was at home when the river overflowed. I was unhappy because I saw my dad and my mom sad because everything they grow is "died” (she means the entire crop was lost). The bananas, rice ... All are "died", then I was sad, "says Estefani, a 13-years old girl from Limbaica who speaks Spanish.

We are in this community the third day of food distribution. This community is closer to Alamikamba and we appreciate that conditions are not as bad. We distribute food aid to 305 people, of which 152 are kids and 41 are under five years old.

In Limbaica, there are three wells in good conditions; however, well water is contaminated after the overflowing of the river.

 “In recent weeks, many children have not gone to school because they are sick from drinking polluted water. Most have diarrhea and allergies” says one of the four school teachers.

Although Limbaica is also Miskito, many people speak Spanish. “Here, we can study until 6^th grade”, says Rachel, an eight years old girl, very happy and fun, who has been walking with me since I came.

Estefani studies first grade in high school. “I go every day to Alamikamba, it takes almost four hours”. She has the "lucky" to be able to attend secondary school because her family can pay the round trip every day (with a great economic effort). 

The food distribution process was pretty quick and tidy, we give out aid to 56 families, among them, 47 children under 5 years old. 

Galilea

The beneficiaries are 168 children -63 under five years-, 136 adults, 304 people in 54 homes. There are three wells and three are contaminated.

Some children show me the school. The latrines are a little better; the yard is full of animals (especially cows and horses). 

I am surprised that the school is closed; when I ask why, children do not know but they are dressed with the uniform (although most walk barefoot), so they should have lessons today.

Buena Vista

In Buena Vista there is one well and it is polluted. The beneficiaries are 172 children -64 under five years-, in 54 homes, 321 people. 

On August 14, we share out food aid in these three communities. The closest community to Alamikamba is half an hour by speedboat and less than 3 hours by slow boat. 

All three have better hygienic conditions and we find more people who speak Spanish. However, all three have the contaminated well water.