Published in August 2026 

We spoke to Nokuthula Moyo and Choice Moyo, from Manonkwe Village in Zimbabwe. Nokuthula (a 57-year-old matriarch responsible for looking after her 7 grandchildren) and Choice (a 44-year-old voluntary village health worker) shared their views about the lasting change they think a recently constructed sand dam will have on their community.

In dryland areas, like where Manonkwe Village is located, unpredictable rainfall and prolonged droughts make made it harder for communities to have reliable access to clean water. For such communities, the responsibility usually falls on women and children to travel for many hours every day to source water, usually from scoop holes dug into riverbeds - only for that water to be dirty and insufficient for their needs.

Each day, Nokuthula walked six kilometres, for several hours, across rocky terrain, often under the scorching sun, to collect water for herself and her grandchildren. Describing the water she found, she says:

“We knew it was not safe, but when you have children crying for water, you drink what you can find.”

Consumption of the contaminated water triggered many of the illnesses that Nokuthula and her village faced. Nokuthula started to have anxieties over who would look after her grandchildren if the water related illnesses tipped her to a point of no return:

“I knew the water could cause diarrhoea and cholera. After some time, the water began to affect my kidneys. I was weak, I could not farm and I could not carry water. I feared for my grandchildren because I was the one they depended on.”

Nokuthula Moyo, Manonkwe Village Ward Councillor and community member, Zimbabwe. 

Nokuthula’s experience mirrors many of the waterborne illnesses that Choice Moyo treated in her six years serving the community. She says:

“The medicine I gave was never enough; they were only temporary fixes. If people kept drinking from open, contaminated sources, they would always return to being sick.”

A vicious cycle was established whereby water related sicknesses were common due to consuming contaminated water, and poor health in the community was maintained through the lack of water (affecting basic hygiene tasks such as handwashing and cleaning the home). Choice explains the difficulty of her voluntary role without consistent access to clean and safe water:

“Without water, hygiene was impossible. We were fighting disease with empty hands.”

The construction of a sand dam by Manonkwe Village with the support of Dabane Trust, our partner in Zimbabwe, will change things around. It will provide 40 million litres of clean water (replenishing every rainy season), last upwards of 60 years (with next to no maintenance and operational costs), benefitting the lives of generations to come.

For, Nokuthula, her walk for water will be reduced to just 40 minutes, instead of several hours. She has also received WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) training to ensure she her family remain healthy and reduce instances of getting ill.

For Choice, these WASH trainings administered by Dabane Trust, acted as a catalyst for a shift in community behaviour and reinforced her work as a health worker. Off the back of the sand dam construction and the trainings that come alongside it, she has helped lead the village in ending open defecation and adopting better hygiene standards:

“Clean surroundings mean fewer illnesses, and fewer illnesses mean stronger families.”

Choice Moyo, Manonkwe Village Voluntary Health Worker and community member, Zimbabwe.

She hopes for lasting impact in the community; long-term improved health for all, with the women and children thriving instead of burdened with daily long treks foe water.

For Nokuthula, she hopes to provide for her family better now that hours of water collection aren’t overshadowing her life. Since the sand dam was constructed, her home is clean, her farm is flourishing with healthy crops, and she feels confident, having been trained in constructing soil conservation structures that slow rainwater run-off and protect fertile ground. She describes her self-development proudly:

“I am no longer just a water carrier; I am a technician of the land.”

For Manonkwe Village, a sand dam is more than just a water resource. It is a guarantee that future generations will no longer have to fall into the same patterns of water related sickness as their predecessors; and it is an opportunity for prosperous sustainable farming and the chance at becoming self-reliant.

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Please donate what you can and help to empower vulnerable women and girls in drylands to transform their own lives with sand dams and clean water