Our day started promptly at 8:00 am today, headed out to the Degola Chenchiya kebele (like a county). When we visited in June we saw about ½ of the 10 W2T projects in this area and we are hoping to see as many of the remaining as time permits today.
Our first stop of the day was a hand dug well at the community of Seha. As we approached the site, three women were leaving the water point with their daily collection of water. One of the women was carrying her water in the traditional clay pot. The pot holds about the same amount of water, but they are rarely used now because the plastic jerry cans weigh about 20 lbs. less. Also, near the site, we visited the community’s prior water collection site. It was a small runoff pond that currently has water in it, but will be empty when the dry season starts.
At the water point, we met a precious 5 year girl, named Enkow Endalew. With the community’s permission, she enjoyed drinking the clean water directly from the pump and splashing water on her face and head. A joyous moment for all!
On the way to the next project site, we passed by the kebele administrative office. Jim noticed that a number of farmers had come together to thrash their wheat in a cooperative effort. He suggested we stop and we watched them use cattle to crush the wheat stalks and heads and then pitch the wheat in the air separate the wheat grains from the chaff.
We then took a short walk up the valley to a nearby community where women and children were fetching water from a contaminated water source. Over four hundred community members used the water source and several of community leaders pleaded for a water project for their community. One young women was especially passionate and compelling. She said she was speaking for her children and the children of the of other mothers and not for herself. She prays for the day that her children can drink and bathe in clean water so it can reduce their frequent illness.
Fortunately, their community is included in the current W2T proposal for 2011 as one of the additional 13 water points to be implemented in Degola Chenchiya.
We could only continue another mile or so and our cars and trucks had to stop because the path was too difficult. The remainder of our journey to see two W2T would be on foot over rugged terrain. Our hosts estimated about 45 minutes to reach the last project…..it turned out to be more than an hour of difficult walking. Most of the path was in amongst the fields of wheat, barley and teff. In every field, there would be a handmade platform that rose several feet above the crops. Perched atop the platform would be young boys, age 8 to 15 whose job was to protect the crops from birds using either a sling shot or the loud crack of a whip. Very practical….but it keeps these young boys from being able to attend school regularly because of their responsibilities.
The first project we reached on foot was at the community of Abarko.
As we were visiting with one family who were collecting water, the mother (also a member of the water committee for the well) complained that the guard was not keeping the well open the prescribed number of hours. The well is suppose to be accessible 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in late afternoon. In the morning, the guard would only let them fill up the 10 jerry cans or so and then he would lock the well and leave. With the help of the ORDA staff, a quick meeting was held with some of the other water committee members and a determination was made to fire the guard tomorrow and replace him with a female who lived near the well. It was really wonderful to see the women bringing the issue forward and to see the committee working together to resolve the issue. It was a great demonstration of the importance of both the water committee and having active participation by the women on the committee.
Continuing our walk, we reached the hand dug well at Aliwonz.
This project site was so remote that the community members assisted ORDA by bringing all the tools and construction materials the last mile. These were either carried by hand or by donkey and could only be done early in the morning or late at night, after they had completed all their other responsibilities. After a brief visit with the community and sharing thanks, we headed back to the cars/trucks….arriving more than 2 ½ hours after we had left. Tired but exhilarated by people we had been blessed to meet along the way!
On our drive out, we stopped by one of the sites we had visited in June, Denkel #1. It was close by the path and a number of the committee had been waiting to see us and thanks us again for bringing clean water to their community.
After visiting briefly with the community at Denkel, we headed to a water collection site in the kebele of Minzinero. It was a short distance off the highway. The site was a wet weather creek that dries up in the summer dry season.
As you can see from the picture, it was a beehive of activity…….cattle and goats drinking, one man washing his head, a young girl washing clothes, and several people collecting water for their home downstream from all the activity. The kebele has over 6,000 members and currently has only 5 hand dug wells for clean water. The Minzinero kebele will be on the candidate list for funding projects in 2011.
Jim’s thoughts captures the impact of the day for us all……….
The emotion of the need still calling to us disturbs us greatly. When I see the joy in the faces of those who now have clean water, it feels good; and, they are so thankful--praising God for all that has been done. However, just over the hill will be another community without clean water.
We arrived back at our hotel about 6:00 to witness another of God’s great gifts…….a beautiful sunset that painted the sky with amber and orange….a fitting reminder of how blessed we are even in the simplest things in life.
Tomorrow we head north from Gondar for a day of R&R and beautiful mountain vistas at the Simien Mountain Lodge (highest elevation hotel in all of Africa). This will likely be our last post for a couple of days, because I doubt that I will have internet connection there. We should have some updates Sunday October 10th.
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