The waiting game is over

In 2005 construction began on a rural health centre in Kamono village. 4 years later it still wasn't finished. But then the members of the Neighbourhood Health Committee had an idea.

The newly buildt health center in Kamono.

”We were getting very angry, because no one was paying attention to us.” Newly elected member of the Neighbourhood Health Committee, Elinart Phiri, takes up the tale of how Kamono village finally got their health centre, sitting in the building she has fought to have completed. All around the villagers have gathered and are filling up the benches and crowding on mats on the floor. A murmur of assent greets her words.

Construction of the health centre began 4 years ago, but then everything stalled and the building was never finished. ”It was tried several times to contact our locally elected area councillor and the Health authorities, but all they ever said was that it was being debated and we had to wait,” Elinart continues. ”There was no leadership surrounding it, so that's how it stayed.” Nodding greets this statement. But when Elinart joined the committee she and the other health committee members decided that other routes had to be tried.

Elinart Phiri

”We went to see Community Youth Concern (CYC, a partner of MS Zambia), thinking that they might be able to help us,” explains Richard Tembo, another member of the committee and also the resident community health worker. He had once sought CYC's advice on another matter and had been happy with the advice he received then. And so a delegation was sent to the CYC offices in Nyimba. That was when things started happening.
The first advice the delegation received at CYC, was to establish whether the community was still interested in having the health centre completed. A questionnaire was designed and distributed. The results showed that the residents of Kamono still wanted the centre. Because when you are living a 2 hour trip from Nyimba down a dirt track with hardly any transport, it's a long way to go to get medical attention. And even if the newly completed health centre will not have a permanent nurse stationed, there are many other advantages. It provides a place for the resident community health worker to keep the medicines in a safe place and it will make it easier for people to find him. ”I would just keep the medicines at my house and people would have to know how to find me there,” Richard Tembo explains. ”Likewise, the traditional birth attendant can be stationed here and thus be easier to find. And it will provide a proper place for the Health Authorities to carry out immunization campaigns and vitamin distribution.”

Once the need had been established, CYC helped the Health Committee apply for community development funds. With proper documentation of the need and pictures of the half finished building, it only took 2 months to get the application approved. From there it was just a question of notifying the District Planning Office, who told the committee to get quotes for the construction. The District Planning Office then choose contractors and a mere 3 months later, in August 2009, the building was finally finished. Now, the community is only awaiting a final visit from the Health Authorities to have the building officially opened so they can begin using it.

Richard Tembo

”We are very happy with the outcome, we had lost hope that the building would ever be finished,” comments Davison Sakala, one of the community members. And another community member, Emima Njobvu, has already started making plans for future improvements: ”We need to get some solar power for electricity in the building, so maybe we should apply for some more funds soon.” That suggestion immediately brings out more ideas from the gathered villagers: ”How about a borehole?” We should get some latrines as well!” ”The teachers' houses need some repairs, they are falling apart!” Kamono village is obviously no longer a place where people will just wait for the authorities to take action.

As the coordinator of CYC, Benson Chaponda, remarks: ”It shows how important it is for an organisation like ours to be accessible and willing to provide advice when other routes fail. The villagers of Kamono took an initiative and just needed a little help to figure out the avenues to go. This is where Civil Society can play a major role in our lives in strengthening and encouraging the democratic rights of everybody to pursue their issues.”