Around one sharp corner, we are greeted by the 40, startled, brown eyes of Colobus Monkeys who forage along this route.  They quickly scamper up the embankment, staring curiously back at us as we pass.  After a couple of hours, we pop out of the forest, (before my stomach lands in my lap) into the vibrant green plains of the Gisenyi tea estates.  Pickers, paid 7 US cents per kilo, clad in green plastic aprons and battered hats, dot the horizon, singing as they pick. At 11am I cross the rickety border at Cyangugu on foot into Bukavu and DRC. Sauntering up the hill, I am approached by a women in a bobbed, red wig – who ushers me into a metal shed, and demands my yellow fever card.  In the panic of packing it’s forgotten, and so starts negotiations of how much I should pay to be let out of the now, very hot, metal shed.  I barter her down from 30 to 15 US$, but getting no receipt for my payment, I leave, rather disgruntled, that I have been bamboozled before even getting into DRC!  Further up the hill, at Immigration, ‘jiggy jiggy’ music is blasting out of a tiny portable radio, with enough distortion to make your ears drums rattle.  Women with small bread rolls stacked 1m high, balanced on their heads brush past me and steely eyed officials glare and snap at the jostling crowd. Luckily, I am rescued by Venant, President of PEHA (Platform Eau, Hygiene and Assainissement).  This group of 6 local, watsan NGOs was set up with funds from PROTOS in 2000, to coordinate, harmonise and compliment each others work and improve the quality of watsan activities in South Kivu.

 We leave Bukavu, heading out along the shore of Lake Kivu through marshlands and trails of women carrying huge piles of wood and charcoal. They carry their baggage slung between the back and forehead using a sarong.   Not a man is in sight, apart from in bars or passing cars.  The road is bad, bumpy and dusty, my hair is beginning to resemble that of the red wig, and we’ve only been going 40 minutes!  I feel like I have just watched a diminishing forest walking to market. 
 We stop at what seems like a random spot on the side of the road, where amongst the dust, is a group smartly dressed men, who turn out to be the local leaders.  Together we weave our way through a banana plantation to the lake shore.  Here a boat is waiting with 6 oarsmen, clutching paddles made from a plank of wood and a piece of jerry can.  As we cross the lake, they whistle and sing for a safe crossing. With each whistle and each stroke the boat jerks forward as if it is walking on the water.  As we approach the shore of the Ishovu Island at least 40 women are singing, clapping and shaking their bums. They greet each boater with cries of happiness and hugs.  By the time we walk to the ‘puit drainage’ only 50m from the shore, at least 200 people have appeared.  This impromptu party bustles and jostles for prime position.  
 The puit drainage was designed by ADI KIVU, (one of the members of the platform) in response to endemic cholera and bilharzias, and the reluctance by locals to install a hand pump, which they feared was too expensive and technically difficult to maintain.  The puit drainage is a cross between a sub surface water tank and a well, so the tank is situated below the water table, and around the tank, you have the usual gravel pack and porous walls used in well design.  To collect water you climb down 2m of steps, and open taps at the base of the tank.  The tank has a pipe for aeration, a service hatch, and at ground level, a drain for waste water, which is scooped out using half a jerry can.  Each household contributes 50 Congolese Francs every three months, (about 10 US cents).  Of these, only about 50% have the means to contribute, which they do, this in sorghum or manioc. Despite their poverty, they have raised enough to fix 5 broken taps this year.  As the nearest hardware shop is in Bukavu, 40km away, from breakage to repair takes about a week, (as, having no transport of their own, they must wait till market day for transport) meanwhile the attendants open and close the taps for the public.
 I am dubious about the workload of the women, having to climb up the steps with their full jerry cans, and then back up the hill to their homes.  But they are clearly overjoyed that the cholera has stopped and the ‘puit drainage’ is used and well maintained.  Hygiene however remains poor, the protruding stomachs of the little children indicate worms and they report some cases of diarrhoea, which with a PHAST programme due to start, this should alleviate some of these sickness. 
 South Kivu struggles along with insecurity, most households and businesses complain of being robbed of their few belongings by looters, of recurring malaria, the women, of back problems from carrying heavy loads.  Yet, they party, and laugh, and dance, and sing, and welcome strangers with overwhelming hospitality.  They have clean water, they have life.
If you would like to know more about the water platform or the puit drainage, you can contact ADI KIVU adikivu@yahoo.fr

If you would like to view a short clip (30 MB) of the ‘puit drainage’ , click here.