The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Saturday, March 28, 1992 — Students at Wanezi Secondary School near Filabusi shared untreated drinking water with livestock after the school’s pumping engine broke down and ended up in hospital with diarrhoea, according to sources close to the school.

The sources said the water pumping engine broke down more than two weeks ago and had not been repaired yet. Students had to get their water for drinking and bathing from a nearby dam using buckets. A few days after they started using water from the dam a large number of girls fell ill and the number increased each day, the sources said. At the one time the situation was so serious that at the school clinic, the majority of those admitted were girls.

In addition to diarrhoea, some of the pupils complained of headaches.While this was not the first time the school engine had broken down, sources said it was the first time that it had taken so long to be repaired.

They said the school had acquired another engine and was in the process of installing it. Meanwhile, pupils continued to use untreated water from the dam.Wanezi Secondary School is run by the Brethren In Christ Church.The school normally gets its water from borehole and three small dams.

Sources said two of the dams had dried up while the third one had little water and the students resorted to drinking untreated water.

However, they said the rains that fell over the past few days had the three dams almost full again. While it is a good thing that the school dams are now filled up, it won’t improve the situation. As long as the pumps are not repaired we will continue to drink untreated water. The number of students with diarrhoea is now low but as long as pumps are not repaired as they continueto drink untreated water anything can happen”, said the source.