A year after the outbreak of Africa's worst ever cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, communities across the country are getting clean and safe water.

In Chitungwiza, just outside the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, people no longer have to fetch water from contaminated shallow wells, a breeding ground for the water-borne virus.

Six year old fortune said he was not allowed to go and play with his friends, because his mother was worried he would pick up the highly contagious virus.

An unprecedented 98,000 cases of cholera were recorded following the outbreak in August 2008. There were almost 4300 deaths, 170 of them in Chitungwiza. This boy survived.

The collapse of the water infrastructure system was widely blamed for the size of the epidemic, with many people fetching water from contaminated sources.

Work has started on rehabilitating the water system. The European Commission, the leading donor in Zimbabwe, has spent 12 million euro on cholera prevention and treatment projects. Tadious Maruta from the Prince Edward Dam Water Works said: 'We have repaired broken machinery and now we can provide a constant supply of water to Chitungwiza.'

Residents have also been provided with water purification tablets, hygiene advice and soap. In just two days 36 tons of soap was handed out.

Cholera is endemic in Zimbabwe and is expected to return in the October rainy season, although communities will be both better prepared to deal with an outbreak and should have access to clean water.

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Photos and text by Daniel Dickinson, European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).