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Home > = News > = Appeals = >=20 Indy=20 Appeal

Independent Appeal: Water, water everywhere (but no thanks to the=20 men)

Women are the poor relations of Ethiopia. But it was = their=20 effort and ingenuity =96 assisted by ActionAid =96 that turned on the = taps in=20 Nadugne Agam, as Paul Vallely discovered

Monday, 14 December 2009

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Nuria Mohammed and her family use their new water = source to=20 grow crops to sell at a profit

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Even all this time later, the women were ashamed to give too many = details.=20 But it happened, they said, in the village of Nadugne Agam. There was no = water=20 locally and the women had to carry it from the river, bent double, in=20 back-breaking, 25-litre heavy-duty containers strapped to their = shoulders.

It took almost an hour to walk there. Then they had to dig in the dry = river=20 bed until water seeped through the stones. That could take another hour. = After=20 that came the stagger back to their village, an agonising two hours, or = more.=20 For one woman, one day, this proved too much. When she reached her=20 wattle-and-daub hut she lay down, exhausted. Her thirsty child was = waiting. He=20 asked for a drink. Get it yourself, she said, and fell asleep.

When she awoke she found that the child, as he tipped the container, = had=20 spilt the water she had labour so long to bring. Enraged, she took a = stick to=20 teach him a lesson. She beat him so hard that he died.

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Leading article: A time for inspiration
Search the news archive for more stories =

He was not the only child to have died for using too much water in = the=20 Dalocha region of Ethiopia, two hours south-west of Addis Ababa, where = water was=20 only for drinking or cooking; nothing so frivolous as hand-washing was = allowed.=20 "More than one family killed a child while disciplining them for using = too much=20 water," one of the village's female elders, Byaznlegn Endeshawe, told = me.

It was not the only ill-consequence of Dalocha's terrible water = shortage.=20

"At the river, we drank the same water as the animals drank and = defecated=20 by," said Byaznlegn. "We got dysentery and diarrhoea; many children = died. We=20 spent so much time fetching water that we had little time for growing = crops to=20 feed our families. The children could not go to school because they had = to help=20 their mothers fetch water or stay at home to mind the house and the = little=20 ones."

Clothes got dirtier and dirtier and became home for the lice which = carry the=20 typhus parasite which was responsible, though the women did not know it = then,=20 for the large number of deaths in the village from what they called = relapsing=20 fever.

So when the British development agency ActionAid, which is one of the = three=20 charities in this year's Independent Christmas Appeal, arrived in the = village=20 and asked the local people what they needed, the men =96 who in Ethiopia = look down=20 on water-carrying as women's work =96 had a variety of suggestions. But = the women=20 had only one: the village needed a supply of clean water.

ActionAid dug boreholes. The locals were charged about 1p for 40 = litres, to=20 pay for the maintenance of the pipes. But when the pumps broke down the=20 maintenance money collected had vanished. "The men had spent it on chat = [an=20 addictive drug ingested by chewing a leaf] and drinking alcohol," said = Bichol=20 Tselela, the secretary of what became the Dalocha Women's Water Project. = When=20 the women protested and said they would take over administering the = scheme the=20 men shrugged.

When one women suggested they should cap a spring which rose seven = kilometers=20 away, and pipe the water to all the local villages, the men smirked. = "They said=20 that women would never manage such a complex project," Bichol said. = "They said,=20 'Let the women try and when they fail we'll take over'."

But the women, with training from ActionAid, made a huge success of = the=20 enterprise. They added more boreholes, until here were eight across the = area,=20 each with its own pump and a generator. And they capped the spring, = which=20 produces 23 litres of water per second, and pumped it to the top of = Gafat Hill=20 into a 60,000-litre reservoir tank. From there it flows, gravity-fed, in = four=20 directions, through a 70-kilometre network of pipes, all paid for by the = British=20 aid agency.

With the water came much else. The women, who initially had been = afraid even=20 to come to village meetings =96 so low is the status of women in = Ethiopian society=20 =96 became emboldened by their success. They constituted the majority in = the water=20 project's 178-member general assembly. All 16 members of the executive = board are=20 women.

They demanded health services such as vaccination, and took over the = fight=20 against malaria, running a programme to spray the walls of local houses = and=20 distribute insecticide-charged bed-nets. They started a small savings = scheme.=20 They participated actively not just in community meetings but have = become a=20 force on the local and district councils.

"Now we have enough time to work, to grow crops, to look after the = children=20 and to cook food," said Byaznlegn who has become chair of the project. = "We have=20 improved our personal hygiene and have better household sanitation. = Because we=20 wash our clothes the lice that carry typhus have gone and the relapsing = fever=20 that was such a serious problem here is now almost eliminated."

Water has brought two social revolutions. "We send our children to = school,=20 that's the big change," said Bichol Tselela. In Dalocha school enrolment = has=20 risen from 15pc to 71 per cent, thanks to a combination of the children = now=20 having the time to go to school and the government's abolition of school = fees=20 for those under 15, a move made possible by the freeing of cash after = the=20 scrapping of Third World debt by the G8 at Gleneagles and elsewhere. Two = of the=20 villagers have even sent children to university.

The second major change is in the "women's work" business of fetching = water.=20 "Now we have boys sharing the work equally with the girls," said Bichol. = "About=20 5 per cent of the men are doing it regularly, as a matter of routine. = And in the=20 dry season, many men will go when there is a long queue while the women = prepare=20 the food. It's a very big change."

So too is the adoption of family planning which has come in with the = local=20 health services. "We have children spaced three or four years apart, = rather than=20 every year," said Bichol. The average family size has fallen from an = average of=20 about 10 to five children. "Now that they all go to school the women and = the men=20 have to do all the jobs the kids used to do, collecting firewood, = herding the=20 goats."

The whole project has been such a success that it has become a model = for=20 other, even more ambitious schemes in the area. ActionAid is now trying = to raise=20 the final amounts for a similar project, costing =A3250,000, in nearby = Lera Town.=20

The level of the transformation is radical. Nuria Mohammed took me to = her=20 village about eight kilometres away to show me her garden.For water, she = used to=20 have a 15km round trip of 15 km, with a donkey. Now there is a standpipe = on the=20 other side of her garden fence. None of the 23,000 residents in the area = is more=20 than 500m from a tap.

"We have all started vegetable and fruit gardens which produce an = income for=20 us," she said. "I have harvested cabbage, beetroot, carrot and tomatoes = and=20 there are avocado, mango, coffee and banana to come. I earn enough to = buy oil,=20 sugar, clothes and fertiliser, and discharge my social obligations." =

When she could expand the garden around her house no more she built a = new=20 bigger mud-hut house on the other side of the village square. She and = her=20 husband Ibro constructed a storehouse for their produce. Then she built = a=20 house/shop in Dalocha town and rented it to a tradesman.

What had she done with her new money? "We bought a bed; before we = slept on=20 the floor," Nuria told me. "And we bought separate utensils and plates = for=20 guests, some small tables and some ornaments. We are very happy now." =

Would that the rest of the world could be so content with so little. =

The charities: Who they are, what they do

ActionAid works in more than 40 countries, and is dedicated to = ending=20 poverty and injustice. It specialises in community development. Its = projects=20 include one aiming to help poor women in Ethiopia to buy their own = shopping=20 mall, working with farmers to fight climate change in eastern Africa's = Rift=20 Valley, helping sex workers in the world's biggest brothel in = Bangladesh, and=20 supporting a school in Afghanistan for child soldiers rescued from the = Taliban.=20

ComputerAid International collects old computers in the UK and = refurbishes them to send out free to schools and charities in the = developing=20 world. Its 150,000 computers are helping African meteorological offices = to=20 advise farmers, and allowing rural health workers to send X-rays over = the=20 internet for diagnosis from specialists.

Peace Direct sets up initiatives among local people to lessen = tension=20 in conflict zones, mindful that many conflicts fester and often reignite = after=20 peace deals. Peace Direct brings Muslims, Sinhala Buddhists and Tamils = together=20 in Sri Lanka. It funds Afghanistan peace councils. It eases tensions in = Northern=20 Ireland. And it works on relations between oil companies and locals in = Sudan.=20

The charities all have extraordinary stories to tell. We hope you = will=20 give generously.

Donate now

Comments

( Leave=20 a comment )

offensive postings below

gubu999=20 wrote:

Monday, 14 December 2009 at 09:28 = am=20 (UTC)

This is an inspiring article that should teach = us to=20 count our blessings. I can=92t be the only one who finds the postings in = the=20 comments for UGG boots and luxury goods underneath this article as = deeply=20 offensive.
As someone
who believes you get out what you put in - = you=20 baozhu1958 and you sfdgjg; will surely reap the rewards of your = miserable and=20 pointless existences that you oh so richly deserve - Shame on both of = you with a=20 good dose of pestilence for good measure.

Link=20 | Reply=20 | Thread

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Monday, 14 December 2009 at 12:49 = pm=20 (UTC)

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Link=20 | Reply=20 | Thread

Great

marcin2x4=20 wrote:

Monday, 14=20 December 2009 at 09:33 pm (UTC)

After reading this, briliant article,
I = gain a hope=20 that this world has a chance to be rescued :)

Link=20 | Reply=20 | Thread

misandry is in your newspaper

luke3333=20 wrote:

Monday, 14 December 2009 at 09:35 = pm=20 (UTC)

Do people the write these types of things have = any idea=20 how it feels to be a male in their society? Constantly criticised and = belittled?=20 Can you imagine an article criticising women for their lack of success = in=20 generating wealth or improving their society?

I am sick of the = misandry=20 and double standards that the so called 'equality' and 'women's rights' = agendas=20 show. If you think about it their is nothing equal about 'women's = rights' any=20 more than there would be about 'men's rights'.

I am well aware = that you=20 can find lots of ways the world is unfair to women - especially in the = 3rd world=20 - but the idea that it is progressive rather than misandric to only go = on about=20 womens' rights I find upsetting.

Just one example: In Somalia = women get=20 raped and soldiers get killed. Let me translate: women get raped and men = get=20 murdered/killed.

Link=20 | Reply=20 | Thread