Musa will not drink from that stream again

Abstract

WATER AND HEALTH I n Durban Musa has access to clean, piped water. At his rural home, domestic water is obtained from a stream, which is supplied by a spring. This stream runs through Musa’s homestead, and at places the water is stagnant. Sometimes the water is yellowish green, with frogs, but this is the water that his mother and rest of the community collect for domestic consumption. Until recently people used the bushes when they needed to defecate. Musa began to lose his appetite. Three days later he had diarrhoea, but he did not go to the clinic as he thought it would pass. He felt terrible – everything he ate passed through him – he had diarrhoea and vomited, and could not keep anything inside. The makeshift toilet was far from the house, and he needed to get there about 15 times a day. Sometimes he could not get to the toilet in time. His mother brought a bowl to wash him. He felt terrible and began to lose hope. He lost a lot of weight and his mother had to carry him to the clinic. By the time he got to the clinic, he had no energy.

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