THE Nhlungwane Settlement in Inanda has been experiencing sporadic and prolonged water interruptions for over a year now, which has affected every aspect of their lives – socially, emotionally, and physically.

The Bright Eyes Trust, which runs a kitchen from the settlement, feeds about 100 people every day and holds the area close to their hearts.

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Coordinator for the organisation Cathryn Aylett said the kitchen was initiated after the flooding in 2022 when they travelled out to deliver a food parcel to a mother whose son was attending the centre at the time.

“At our second delivery, we realised this mom was using the groceries allocated to her family to feed almost 30 children who had been affected by the devastation. Munchies Kitchen grew from there,” said Aylett.

Since then, Aylett has seen the devastating effects of the community not having water, for days on end sometimes. She and her family have taken on the cost of delivering water from her home to this community at her own cost.

“It has been well over a year of inconsistent water supply. At present, there has been no water since before the Easter weekend. The water tankers are irregular, and the supply is not nearly enough as this is a densely populated area. We are using about R1 300 worth of diesel a week and roughly R900 on replacing broken buckets weekly,” said Aylett.

She said the community is generally very supportive of each other, but this crisis has pushed everyone beyond breaking point.

“It has been unbearably hot, and families have to manage 20 litres of water from the tanker at a time, once a week, if they are lucky. That 20 litre bucket must now serve at least five people and must be used for cooking to bathing, drinking, washing clothes and cleaning surfaces,” she said.

She said the tanker arriving didn’t guarantee anyone actually obtaining a bucket of water – you need to fight your way to the tap. All order around water collection has been lost out of pure fear and desperation.

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“There are young babies suffering from nappy rash because they cannot be bathed. Children are feeling embarrassed because they cannot wash their school uniforms. Working members of the community cannot launder their uniforms or work clothes. Imagine going to school thirsty. Can you think of cheap meals to cook without water?” she asked.

Bright Eyes Trust also provided toiletry packs to young school girls and distributes a nutritious breakfast pack to 70 children per month.

“It has been incredibly frustrating to run Munchies Kitchen without any water. The children have been eating the cereal powder dry some days because there has not been enough water to cook it,” said Aylett.

“We have spent our evenings filling buckets and transporting water to the community kitchen. We deliver roughly 1 000 litres at a time – about 48 buckets. Our priority here has not been to replace the water tanker but rather ensure equal access – water without the fight,” she added.

Community leaders have assured the trust that the water-pipe repair will be done shortly, but this has been the feedback for over a year now.

“Personally, I prefer to keep myself out of the workings of the municipality as we approach these challenges from the ground up. A possible solution could be a borehole or water harvesting. We have learned here to depend on no one but ourselves. Water is a basic human right,” said Aylett.

She encouraged the community and businesses to help this community by sponsoring 25 litre buckets, strong enough to be carried by the handle, and to help by cash donations.

For more information and contact details, visit www.brighteyes.co.za.

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