Clean water and new skills for Garadida

As HOPE's 24-month investment in Garadida, moves into its final months, there are many examples of great change throughout the village.  Here is another lovely example that was shared with us today:

Married and a mother of six children, Kehami is one of the beneficiaries HOPE 's project in Garadida. Before joining the Self Help Group (SHG) programme, she was socially and economically deprived. In addition, Kehami was dependent from her husband - the only person earning money in the family. Before HOPE's intervention, the Garadida community had no access to clean water. Moreover, the Garadida community, including Kehami, had very poor hygiene and unhealthy sanitation practices.  

After the start of the water, sanitation and women empowerment project in Garadida, Kehami volunteered to take part in a SHG. As a result, during the capacity building training for SHG members, Kehami learnt the benefits of being in a group structure to save money and engage in micro businesses. She decided to start saving money on a weekly basis with her fellow SHG members. Her weekly saving amount is 10 birr and she also contributes 2 birr to a group social fund every week.

Recently, Kehami took out a 2,000 birr loan from her SHG and started baking Injera, one of the staple foods in Ethiopia, to sell to the community. After mch success and repaying her loan with interest, she has opened a small restaurant, costing her a total of 5,000 birr, expanding her source of income. Now her business skills have grown and she is earning money that supports the needs and interests of her family.

Kehami is also applying the health education provided by HOPE staff, improving her own personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Now Kehami says she is much happier with what she is doing and she is grateful for this project.  Thank you for your financial support of this project and for contributing to the transformation of lives like Kehami's.  

HOPE UK is now raising funds for our next project in Markala. We have had many end of year (offline) donations promised for this project, moving us dramatically closer to our fundraising goal.  In light of this generosity, we will be participating in GlobalGiving's #GivingTuesday Campaign, on 30th November, to raise the final £5,000 needed for this 24-month project.  We welcome you to participate in GlobalGiving's one-day campaign, knowing your giving will be multiplied and will transform the lives of those in Markala, like those in Garadida. 

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT!