Dr.Brian Mathew the Lib Dems’ Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset returned from Zimbabwe at the weekend.

 

His project with UNICEF and Care International has managed to bring clean safe water to 70 communities in the dry south East of the Country. Brian said “we have managed to get over 100,000 hygiene kits out to families to help them collect and purify water and also oral rehydration solution packs to the clinics and village health workers in the area as we are expecting a second epidemic later in the year when the weather starts to warm up”.

 

 “In one village called Mukore, the village pump had been out of action for around three years with as many as a thousand villagers walking a considerable distance to neighbouring villages or a river to obtain their water. The cholera epidemic hit Mukore particularly hard with 343 cases and 49 deaths. CARE with the pump minder team repaired the Mukore Borehole. It was a tough job and it took three days to fish the broken pipes out of the borehole and fit the new pump, but the people were so very happy when the work was done”.

 

Since the work was completed at the village, Victoria Manjengwa the local Environmental Health Technician has started four health education clubs in the villages around Mukure after being trained by CARE. As a result as many as 100 participants are attending each session and the messages are getting out about washing hands and drinking only safe water.

 

Brian is now back in North Somerset and looking forward to taking on the Tories at the next general election. On local issues he said "it seems amalgamation seems to be the name of the game with North Somerset Council, anything to save costs without a thought to the consequences, we need local services for local people, whether that’s for schools or for doctor’s surgeries, there does not seem to be much difference between the Tories at the Town Hall or the Government in Whitehall!"

 

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