Access to water is a problem and water quality is a major problem in many areas of the world today.
In Tatum the chief town of Nkum Sub-Division of the N.W. Region of Cameroon nearly everybody is without access to safe drinking water.
Women and children have to queue for hours or walk for many kilometers to collect water that is contaminated.
This often results in life threatening diseases like cholera, malaria, typhoid dysentery. Health statistics have proven that water related diseases are common in Tatum.
Effective water treatment methods such as boiling, filtration, chlorine tablets are applied. All of these procedures require a significant investment of money and time.
Solar disinfection (SODIS) is ideal to disinfect small quantities of water of low turbidity. The DEVICE team of ACOHOF had been preaching SODIS in the Nkum Sub-division.
They had a working session with the Nkum Council to see about the water problem in the area.
In the SODIS method, contaminated water is filled into transparent plastic bottles.
These bottles are exposed horizontally to full sunlight for six hours. During exposure the pathogens are destroyed.
The water is now ready to drink.
If the sky is more than 50% cloudy, expose the bottle for two consecutive days.
The team visited Health centers, among them, the St. Pius the 10th Medicalised health Centre during the antenatal rendezvous for sensitization.
Also a grand sensitization campaign was organized at the Nkum council hall. The Lord Mayor and some hierarchy were happy at the issue.
Some cultural groups in Nkum also benefited from the gospel of water. We had the shiyntum group of waikov, the chong women group of Tatum.
Madam Kindzeka Blandine organized a powerful sensitization campaign with the Old Timers club of ACR where she demonstrated the SODIS method.
The ACOHOF community radio had been organizing panel discussions with stake holders to talk about SODIS.
