Press campaign

I have mentioned in previous blogs about the problems we have at Ntabayengwe getting water. I discussed the problem with the incumbent local councillor in the hope that he might be able to sort out the situation. Unfortunately he has just lost his seat.

So now I have written to the local paper 'Zululand Fever' in the hope that they might take some interest. They have run recent stories on similar themes. I will let you know if they respond to my email, copied below.

'I'm writing in response to the article I read in Zululand Fever on June 3 2011 entitled 'School given 'filthy' toilets'. I am a secondary school teacher from the UK and have a volunteer teacher for the year at Ntabayengwe Primary School, teaching grade 7. The article about the school toilets at Umfolozi Primary School reasonated loudly given my experiences. At Ntabayengwe, we have school toilets built by a local NGO. These are often in a disgusting state. Nonetheless, they are not my primary concern. Instead, my great preoccupation is with our water supply. We have been without tap water since before Christmas. As a result we depend on water from jojos. This often runs out. We then rely on a water pump situated about 100 metres outside the school. This usually has water, but has run dry. When out of water here, I bring water down in containers from my jojo at the hospital.

Being without water in the tap and in our jojo results in appalling sanitary conditions for the children. We have no toilet paper in the toilets. And the children eat with their hands for their meal at 10.00. It also means that they must last through the school day without drinking any water. It is well recognised that being hydrated is an important factor in learning. For this reason, most children in the UK bring water bottles with them to lessons.

I would be very grateful if you were able to investigate why it is not possible to fix the tap at our school so that we have our own supply of fresh water. In addition, I am sure that we are not the only school in our area to be regularly without water. For this reason, I think it would be very helpful for you to press the munipality to set up a telephone line for schools to use to report a problem with their water supply.

Having spent a year teaching at Ntabayengwe, I am due to leave at the end of this month. It would be of huge comfort to me to know that I will leave the school with the water supply functioning again.'