clean water has arrived and THE WATER SYSTEM HAS now BEEN GIVEN OVER TO THE KALEBO LAKA COMMUNITY!
This means that they are responsible for its maintenance and upkeep as well as for collecting water user fees and establishing rules to ensure the new system is daily treated with respect. For these roles, 10 water caretakers (five men and five women) have been trained and a Water Committee has been established from 20 members of the local community (again, a mixed gender group).
Further to guidance from the Ethiopian government, for two years HOPE had a staff member living in the village to continue to provide support and assistance in health, hygiene and sanitation education. Similarly, over 200 women volunteered to be a member of a Self Help Group and the HOPE staff member taught basic business skills, as well as principles of saving and lending money. These groups have been instrumental in helping women to start income generating activities that have increased their family income, as well as empowered the local women to take a strong role in contributing to their families and community.
Children in Kalebo Laka are now regularly able to attend school, instead of spending their days sourcing water. One school and health post in the area has also been provided water by the new water system.
The before and after of clean water for the families in Kalebo Laka, Ethiopia
Throughout much of 2015 and early 2016, HOPE International Development Agency UK was raising funds to provide clean water to Kalebo Laka, a village in the Bonke region of southern Ethiopia.
Families in Kalebo Laka were ready to improve their lives but needed partners here in the UK who were willing to invest in their health and self-reliance. Most families survived on the meagre crops they were able to grow as well as working as day labourers for others.
The water that was found in local rivers, streams, ponds and unprotected springs, was located hours away on foot. That water was usually contaminated and commonly made people ill with diseases that are preventable when clean water is present. As a result, most households know the pain of losing a child.
Contaminated water was at the heart of the extreme poverty families in Kalebo Laka endured. There was no point in planning or dreaming when their most fundamental resource took, rather than gave, life.
