Children "spin" water out

The water is used to prepare their meals, for sanitation facilities and to irrigate the school vegetable garden.

"We are a poor school - no swings for the children here, no jungle gyms, seesaws or exercise rings like the kind most children play with. Because of our water crisis, such things are not in our budget. But now the children have this merry-go-round, and both problems are solved," said teacher Sylvia Nkambule.

Called 'play pumps' or 'play wheels', the bright red, yellow and green contraptions are topped by a blue drum where children can sit. The wheels are designed to be operated with minimum effort and can be turned by as few as three children. Connected to a borehole, the turning wheels draw water up into an overhead tank.

Five 'play pumps' have been installed in schools, mainly in the drought-affected belt in southern and eastern Swaziland, as part of a pilot programme involving a consortium of private companies, government departments and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF financed three play pumps at a cost of about US $30,000, while the Canada Fund provided the money for the others. MTN-Swaziland, the country's cellular telephone provider, will foot the monthly maintenance bill of about $106 per system, and has pledged to finance two more complete systems.

Between 35 and 40 schools have been selected to receive play pumps under UNICEF's 'Education for All' programme.

The water project coordinator for UNICEF in Swaziland, Mduduzi Dlamini, said, "Our surveys found that all schools had some kind of water, but in many cases it was not clean. There were also schools where water had to be transported across long distances, usually by teachers but sometimes by children. The children would lose hours of schooling to get water needed to cook the school's midday meal."

Some schools also required students to bring water from home, and schools facing critical water shortages in drought-affected areas resorted to pit latrines instead of flush toilets. A lack of water to wash hands also presented hygiene problems.

Alan Brody, UNICEF's country representative, said, "We are hoping to also install play pumps at Neighbourhood Care Points, where orphans and vulnerable children receive meals and social support."

Swaziland is largely rural, with a scattered population, making it difficult for more people to have access to these 'play pumps'. "But if you put a play wheel in a central location, like a Neighbourhood Care Point, it is not only entertainment for the kids, but 500 to 1,000 people can draw water from the water tank," Brody explained.

Dlamini also works with the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), another partner in the effort to bring safe drinking water to impoverished schools. The FAO concentrates on school gardens, providing tools and agricultural expertise.

"The FAO is using these school gardens to demonstrate dry cropping to Swazis by growing sweet potato and cassava, which use less water," Dlamini said.

Safe drinking water is also part of the HIV/AIDS mitigation effort. "People with HIV are walking around with an infection already, and impure water can push them into a fatal AIDS-related illness," said Brody.

The four sides of the system's elevated water tank are used as advertising space by the project sponsors, and can also be rented out to earn revenue for the school.