My Lost Pride
by Emilia Orgin Challe
One cool, hotter and busy morning last summer I was at home alone. Sun rays entered the room from the Eastern Side of Mount Uluguru. Me and my neighbours Kibena and Mwenda were outside for cleaning and other morning duties.
"Kibena, Kiduchu and Mwenda did you notice heavy and dark smoke in your rooms last night?” asked an aged woman carrying a bucket of water fetched from river Morogor, across our Mafisa street.
‘‘Of course. Yes,’’ I replied. “The situation was very bad, no fresh air, and I started to feel flu, chest pain and headache.”
“So many tires have been burnt along the river by unknown people during the night’,’ added the aged woman, walking then to look after her husband Mr Mangweha, who was suffering from typhoid.
After that, we had to fetch water from the river Morogoro, since there had been no water from MORUWASA plumb for almost one week. On our way to the river Morogoro, we met brother Pogo and brother Rugu with a wheelbarrow of sand. I asked myself, is there a place to dig sand in the river!? While thinking of that, we met Mr Mangweha’s grandchildren, Filisia and Kene, pushing a cargo of household waste towards the river Morogoro.
I asked them, “where are you going to dump it?”
Confidently, Filisia replied, "In the river. We are used to dumping it every time when waste pickers come late or when we don’t have enough waste bags, since waste pickers tend to take waste bags too".
I took a long breath. Mmhhhhh.
When we finally arrived at the river, I was shocked! Almost a whole community was there. Some were washing clothes and dishes, others were fetching water while children were swimming, and farmers were washing their vegetables to sell to the community. The water pump nearby pushed water from the river to the farmers’ vegetable plots. Along the river, there were remains of last night's burnt tires, but nobody cared!
‘‘Is it a new thing to you?” Kibena asked me. ‘‘It is normal for us so you will adopt it. We use this river for different activities and truly it help us a lot, especially during water shortage on the street.”
I had to turn around and go back home with a heart melted, seeing the environmental degradation and water pollution caused by anthropogenic activities at river Morogoro. On my way back I thought, how I will help to return back My Lost Pride, the environment. I came to the conclusion that I could enhance awareness in the Mafisa community, especially housewives, on sustainable use of the river for the benefit of now and coming generations.
It has been almost six months, and Mafisa community are now aware of the sustainable way of using the river Morogoro. After creating awareness, we formed a small group of women that were willingly ready to change. Those women have been supported through capacity building for sustainable use of river Morogoro, to ensure environmental conservation and social wellbeing. After seeing the improvement in environmental awareness and social well-being of the group, other women are inspired to join.
About
Emilia Challe is a bachelor's degree holder from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management in 2017. After graduating from SUA Emilia joined NIPE FAGIO Organization and worked on its projects like WIOMSA, Zero Waste and Let’s Do It Tanzania. Furthermore, due to her passion for the environment, and to make sure she participates directly in environmental issues like climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, Emilia writes environmental project proposals and uses social media account like instagram @eatz_0103 to enhance capacity building and awareness of the community.