For the next two weeks, Water to Thrive Executive Director Susanne Wilson is traveling with our Ethiopia Project Officer, Gashaw Semeneh, to visit projects and partners in Uganda and Ethiopia. 

Today, Gashaw and I visited with Mityana Charity.  They are a nonprofit existing for over 20 years and supported mainly by donors from the UK. Our purpose in visiting with them was to determine whether they might be a potential future partner.  They focus on human rights, education, health, agriculture, and water. 

 

Geoffrey, Mitanya’s Country Coordinator (center, above), arranged a variety of site visits, including a spring protection, hand-dug wells, and a borehole well that supported their coffee plantation, school, and surrounding community.

Some 280 students attend the school, including 24 girls and 18 boys who board there. The children learn the basic subjects, and also are exposed to an agricultural curriculum. The school uses the coffee plantation for hands-on experiences and a learning environment. In addition, the local farmers also learn from the coffee plantation as an example of model agricultural methods. 

The plantation serves as the school and coffee plantation workers’ food supply.  In addition to coffee, they grow corn, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, eggplant, and jackfruit (above), among others. Sales of the coffee support the plantation workers’ salaries, the school teachers’ salaries, and water project costs. 

After a day of visiting water project sites, the school, the plantation and talking with community beneficiaries, we had time to think about all we had observed on the long ride back to the Gately Inn. Avoiding potholes, mud puddles, boda bodas (above, the ubiquitous motorcycles transporting people, animals, and products), and other drivers offers the exciting experience we refer to as an African massage. Today’s "massage" will most likely help us sleep even more soundly tonight. 

 

 

For the next two weeks, Water to Thrive Executive Director Susanne Wilson is traveling with our Ethiopia Project Officer, Gashaw Semeneh, to visit projects and partners in Uganda and Ethiopia. 

Today, Gashaw and I visited with Mityana Charity.  They are a nonprofit existing for over 20 years and supported mainly by donors from the UK. Our purpose in visiting with them was to determine whether they might be a potential future partner.  They focus on human rights, education, health, agriculture, and water. 

 

Geoffrey, Mitanya’s Country Coordinator (center, above), arranged a variety of site visits, including a spring protection, hand-dug wells, and a borehole well that supported their coffee plantation, school, and surrounding community.

Some 280 students attend the school, including 24 girls and 18 boys who board there. The children learn the basic subjects, and also are exposed to an agricultural curriculum. The school uses the coffee plantation for hands-on experiences and a learning environment. In addition, the local farmers also learn from the coffee plantation as an example of model agricultural methods. 

The plantation serves as the school and coffee plantation workers’ food supply.  In addition to coffee, they grow corn, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, eggplant, and jackfruit (above), among others. Sales of the coffee support the plantation workers’ salaries, the school teachers’ salaries, and water project costs. 

After a day of visiting water project sites, the school, the plantation and talking with community beneficiaries, we had time to think about all we had observed on the long ride back to the Gately Inn. Avoiding potholes, mud puddles, boda bodas (above, the ubiquitous motorcycles transporting people, animals, and products), and other drivers offers the exciting experience we refer to as an African massage. Today’s "massage" will most likely help us sleep even more soundly tonight.