Kalebo Lake needs clean water. Not only will access to safe, clean water improve the health of this community of 1729 in southwest Ethiopia, but it will also provide the extra time for women to devote to economically improve their families and the opportunity for the young girls to attend school. These two factors have the potential to significantly change a community and lift them out of poverty. It is for this reason that HOPE has been working in this area of Ethiopia for over 30 years
The community of Kalebo Laka is caught in the trap of poverty. Every day women must source water for their families, but the nearest source of water is hours away and it is not protected. This means that family members are often getting ill. Men cannot consistently earn enough money for their families, children cannot attend school and women have no time to financially contribute to their household. Instead of preparing for the future, families are fighting to survive today.
The Kalebo Laka community has asked HOPE to help bring safe water to their community. The project will include: capping the nearby spring, digging trenches to the village which is 4.56 km away, installing pipes and building 9 water points, 8 wash basins, 2 water troughs and 207 pit latrines. The community will provide much of the labour and various materials. HOPE staff will also provide essential health, hygiene and sanitation education for each household in the community.
Once Kalebo Laka has access to clean water, health will improve, children will be able to attend school & women will have time to financially contribute to their families. Gender relations will also improve as women will be empowered to participate and make key decisions in their families and community. Through community participation and ownership of the water project, local people will learn new skills of looking after the water points. This will contribute to the unleashing their potential.
This project has provided additional documentation in a XLSX file (projdoc.xlsx).
