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The Mustard Seed Project is a conceptual generic of its predecessors: (Kyema
Water
Project and Kyema Community Centre) both of
which are as a result of compassion by the
Meltham Community to another distant
community 8000 km. (5000 miles) away at
Kyema a tiny village in Uganda.
If the names and geography sound unfamiliar, here is a brief introduction about
each:
Meltham – is a small village town
within the conurbation of Kirklees Metropolitan Borough
Council in the County of
West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. For a detailed and full
description and
character about Meltham please visit:
www.meltham.inuk.com
Kyema – is a small rural hamlet a few miles
out of Masindi town, northwest of Uganda (Africa).
Kyema like all villages
in Uganda suffered human atrocities during the period of a tyrannical ruler,
Idi Amin, which lasted nearly 10 years.
Subsequent regimes were equally oppressive
and abused human rights resulting in
indiscriminate killings of innocent
civilians. The rule of terror displaced families, orphans, and
resulted in a
general neglect of the means that generate a sound economy. Good health
provision ground to a halt. Preventable diseases
became rampant. Mothers died giving birth due
to inadequate care. And to crown it all, the
spread of HIV
causing AIDS has had a major impact on a fragile economy emerging from the
ashes
of devastation.
The village well in Kyema dried up through neglect caused by a decade of
political
upheaval when the village people fled deep into the
bush for their safety.
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Rebuilding of the village social life started slowly. Water
was being fetched from
the next well 5 km (3 miles) away on foot, a task customarily
performed by children and
women; enduring the effects of heat, exhaustion,
hunger and poor health.
Traditional open wells are often contaminated and
infested with bacteria.
Child mortality is high, with one of the main killers being
death by dehydration caused
by diarrhoeal diseases including cholera. The main
cause being contaminated water
supply. A supply of clean water and good
sanitation are essential for the maintenance
of good health.
The provision of safe drinking water to the people of Kyema
was a challenge which the
people of Meltham met head-on. This led to didactic
attributes to the people of Kyema
who found themselves motivated into
development of new projects.
A community that achieves safe water and basic sanitation
and hygiene benefits directly
from better health and its women relieved from
hours of water carrying, have more time for
their families. Money raised for the
water project exceeded the actual cost of digging
a well and installing a pump.
The surplus was used to construct an electric line to Kyema and enable the local
community to have
electricity in their homes.
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