Red Cross to provide 70,000 with clean water to prevent cholera

Rusizi River: People of Gihanga use this dirty water; some even drink it.

“I am very relieved to hear we will get clean water. We’ve been longing for it for a long time. We live in a seriously health-threatening situation here”, said the overjoyed Quentin Marc Ngendakumana, the local head of Kagwema area. He was speaking at an event inaugurating the construction of a network of clean water taps in Gihanga rural district in the western province of Bubanza. “Gihanga is an area in which cholera is endemic. Prevention of the disease is the logic behind our plan to supply water to the area”, said Anselme Katiyunguruza the secretary general of Burundi Red Cross.

Inhabitants of Gihanga are exposed to all sorts of diseases due to the shortage of clean water. They rely on the dirty water of Rusizi River on a daily basis. “We use unclean water that we fetch from Rusizi”, says one inhabitant.
“Our poor health is largely due to this dirty water”, says another inhabitant.

“Three people died of cholera last September. Poor hygiene due to unclean water causes almost all the diseases here”, says Ngendakumana. “The Rusizi River is very dirty. Sometimes we see dead bodies floating in it. Also, there is dirt coming from tributary streams”, he adds.

The clean water expected to be available within three months will safeguard 71,992 people living in Kagwema, Gahongore and Gihungwe, three sub-areas of Gihanga rural district. Burundi Red Cross is backed by Belgium Red Cross in carrying out the project.