Help HOPE bring clean water to Chano Dorga

We are very pleased to report that we have now had confirmation that the 15 new water taps in Chano Dorga are in daily use!  Clean, safe water is flowing and the local residents are now gathering water just 10 minutes from their home, allowing time to attend school and earn needed money for their families.  

“I feel as if water is now available inside my house!” Gebenesh thanked us with a smile and explained how useful it is to have water nearby. The improvement in accessibility to clean water has already changed her life in various ways. 

“We started washing our hands more,” she said. “I think we didn’t wash our hands much in the past, not just because we did not understand its importance, but because we couldn’t use much water before. HOPE’s staff told us to place a water bottle next to our latrines and to wash our hands every time we use it. They also taught us to wash the dishes and to always keep them clean. I believe we can do this now as we have local, clean water.” 

Gebenesh and her son, Asagides, are one of the beneficiaries of HOPE’s Water and Sanitation Project in Chano Dorga. Gebenesh is also a member and the treasurer of the Water and Sanitation Association, the local management body of the water supply system. She continues, "Before HOPE started the project, we used to get water from either the Hale River or from Chano Mile, the neighboring community where there is a water supply system.”  The Hale River is about 2.5km away from Gebenesh’s house and it has been used by the people of Chano Dorga for a long time. However, the water from the river is not clean and although people know it is not safe to drink, they fetched water there, washed their clothes, bathed themselves and their animals and others even washed their vehicles and motorbikes in the river because it can be accessed immediately from the main road. Significantly, these habits have now stopped because local water is available that is plentiful and safe to consume.  THANK YOU FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THEIR NEW FUTURE!

As mentioned in the report sent earlier this month, HOPE's work in Chano Dorga will continue for another 14 months.  Health education will continue to be taught - in community meetings and house to house - and 400 women who have formed 20 self-help groups, will continue to learn basic business skills, whilst also saving and lending money to one another to start small income generating activities.  Various monitoring and evaluation activities will also continue to ensure that HOPE fulfills its commitment to the community, that they are fully benefitting from clean water.  HOPE will ensure that the local beneficiaries can manage and maintain the water system before moving on to other projects, and the community will know how to stay healthy and economically invest in and improve their own futures. HOPE and the people of Chano Dorga are incredibly grateful for your donations to bring clean water and all its benefits to their community.  

If you would like to make another donation to a HOPE water and sanitation project that will transform lives, you can follow this link.  

DONATIONS MADE TODAY WILL BE MATCHED PROPTIONALLY TO THEIR SIZE, MAKING YOUR GENEROUSITY GO FUTHER.  From 9am ET/ 2pm GMT on 18^thJuly, GlobalGiving is putting up $130K in matching funds for donations of $100 and above. The higher your donation, the higher the match!

A $100/£79 donation will bring clean water to one person in Zala Dola.  TODAY THAT WILL BE INCREASED TO GO FURTHER!

Thank you for your continued partnership with HOPE to empower a community with clean water.

Links:

• Do support our next project in Zala Dola

As many of you might have heard, Ethiopia is currently having troubles.  Whilst there had been a continued period of positive reform under the new Prime Minister and first female President, in the past month there was an attempted coup, followed by public violence and over 250 arrests, and a senior government official was killed by his own bodyguard.  This took place in the northern Amhara region.

In the midst of this uncertainty, HOPE continues to work in the south of the country, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region, where it has been working for over 35 years.  However, like the rest of the country, HOPE staff have experienced power outages and internet blackouts for 10-12 hours at a time.  This has hindered communication between our office in Addis Ababa and field office in Arba Minch, and also between these offices and HOPE partners across this world, including us in the UK.  Whilst Ethiopian staff have been able to continue with the current water and sanitation projects, it does mean we have recevied limited information in recent weeks. 

With this in mind, we at HOPE UK have not had a recent progress report on whether the water is now flowing in Chano Dorga.  Communication challenges are not uncommon in development organisations like HOPE, so this has not concerned us, but it does mean we cannot confirm whether the 15 new water points are being used daily and if the handover ceremony has taken place, giving the local Chano Dorga community full ownership of the new water system.  When we hear, we will send you an updated report!

What we do know, however, is that health, hygiene and sanitation education began when the construction of the water system began last autumn.  HOPE staff appointed ten local people in Chano Dorga to assist with the delivery of teaching and training everyone in the community how to live healthily and how to fully benefit from access to clean water.  A lack of proper knowledge of hygiene and sanitation is one of the key factors that affect mortality rates in this area, especially of infants in rural communities. Access to clean water will improve their living conditions, but it would be insufficient without understanding how they can protect themselves from diseases.  Therefore, in Chano Dorga HOPE began delivering Group Training on basic hygiene and sanitation practices with follow-up House-to-House visits.  This has been followed up by the locally trained community members, to ensure the consistent implementation of hygiene and sanitation practices.  Training topics have included the importance of hand washing, how to build pit latrines and how to keep kitchen utensils and dishes clean and what happens when we don't.  

Examples, like the following, are being reported by Mr. Asfo and Mrs. Oyno, who have now built a dish drying rack that they made with bamboo. 

“We used to dry our dishes on the ground before like all the other families,’ said Oyno,“but HOPE staff told us that it is not good because the dishes may get dirty with mud or our cattle may ruin them. So I asked my husband to make us a drying rack. It was easy to construct and it is very useful!”

A new pit latrine has also been installed next to their house and a bottle, which will soon (if it does not already) contain clean, safe water from one of their new village water points, is kept in front so they can wash their hands. Asfo told us that Oyno now cleans the house more often and showed us the hole he dug in which they dispose of their rubbish, as instructed by HOPE.   The lives of Asfo, Oyno and their family have changed for the better, not just because of the (anticipated) supply of clean water, but also by raising their awareness about the importance of hygiene and sanitation.  This is true for their village as well and also for all communities where HOPE works to provide clean water and the necessary training and skills to sustainably live healthily and free from poverty.

Thank you for your donations to this project and for your continued patience as we await news from Chano Dorga.  We will be in contact again shortly when we have had confirmation of a new water system in use!

If you would like to donate to our next water project, we are currently raising funds for a project in Zala Dola.  Do continue to support HOPE's efforts to bring clean water to another community! 

Links:

• BBC coverage on death of Army General in coup
• Guardian coverage of attempted coup