We get an early morning start from our hotel in Addis this morning, leaving a little after 7:00 am. We travel east out of Addis on the main highway that connects Addis to the port of Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main access to the open seas. This highway is the busiest in Ethiopia, as it is the pathway for goods arriving in the country at the port, so we are expecting heavy traffic, and we are, of course, not disappointed. We pass several dry ports along the way where thousands of containers arrive each day.
We head to the district of JeJu, northeast from Addis. We are visiting projects today with our implementing partners Oromia Development Association (ODA), with whom we currently have recently competed 25 projects in Mendida and currently have another 54 projects under way, 25 in JeJu and 29 in the district of Bele Gesgar. Today we are visiting three completed projects of the 25 in Jeju in the communities of Babie Gurkito and Girazmachi (two wells). These have all been completed in the last 45 days.

Today we are accompanied by Adanech Abiebie, shown above pumping water with Carol Swisher from our group at Girazmachi 2. ODA is a great role model to the communities for gender equality, as Adanech is the Executive Director of ODA, one of the largest indigenous NGOs in Ethiopia. They do a terrific job of engaging and partnering with their local communities, so incredibly important for the sustainability of the projects.

At each of the three wells sites, we are introduced to the water committees (1/2 women, ½ men). The group above is the water committee Babie Burkito. The committee is the governing body for the community’s well and sets policy, oversees water and sanitation training and maintains a maintenance fund for sustainability. All three committee had already opened their bank account for their funds.
The communities express their gratitude for the blessing of clean water in many ways….smiling faces, warm and open hearts, singing, clapping and dancing….but today we have a special expression…..we are presented a live goat!

This is a high honor for visitors coming to one of their communities so we accept the gift with gratitude and thankfulness, but gave it back to the community to enjoy a feast in our honor. Several of our traveling group secretly wanted to bring the it back, but Ethiopian Airlines does not have a passenger category for goats!

At each of the communities they express their gratitude and thankfulness by sharing some of their local food. Pictured above on the right is a special dish unique to the JeJu area. They call it porridge, but it’s not like what we would normally expect. It is a very firm cheesecake-like consistency, but not sweet. It is made from honey, spices and a base of barley or corn flour…….actually quite tasty!
One of the great joys of visiting the communities is meeting the people in their place. They are always open, warm and accepting.

Today we will always remember Lakech Woldeyes Adise, a grandmother of 81. She is talkative, outgoing, engaging and has great stamina. She is shown in the picture above with Dolly Holsum from our group. Her husband is also her same age and they live near Babie Burkito. This project is located in deep ravine, and Lakech is leading and helping our team navigate the path both down and up the hill. Of course, she is the first to arrive at the top! Numerous time she expressed her gratitude that now her family living in the area has clean water……saying several times, “water is life”!
We return to our hotel about 7:30 pm, tired but joyous and awe-struck by the day’s events. The words love, joy and gratitude were heard ringing in our head. We were blessed to be part of their communities today!

 We get an early morning start from our hotel in Addis this morning, leaving a little after 7:00 am. We travel east out of Addis on the main highway that connects Addis to the port of Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main access to the open seas. This highway is the busiest in Ethiopia, as it is the pathway for goods arriving in the country at the port, so we are expecting heavy traffic, and we are, of course, not disappointed. We pass several dry ports along the way where thousands of containers arrive each day.
We head to the district of JeJu, northeast from Addis. We are visiting projects today with our implementing partners Oromia Development Association (ODA), with whom we currently have recently competed 25 projects in Mendida and currently have another 54 projects under way, 25 in JeJu and 29 in the district of Bele Gesgar. Today we are visiting three completed projects of the 25 in Jeju in the communities of Babie Gurkito and Girazmachi (two wells). These have all been completed in the last 45 days.

Today we are accompanied by Adanech Abiebie, shown above pumping water with Carol Swisher from our group at Girazmachi 2. ODA is a great role model to the communities for gender equality, as Adanech is the Executive Director of ODA, one of the largest indigenous NGOs in Ethiopia. They do a terrific job of engaging and partnering with their local communities, so incredibly important for the sustainability of the projects.

At each of the three wells sites, we are introduced to the water committees (1/2 women, ½ men). The group above is the water committee Babie Burkito. The committee is the governing body for the community’s well and sets policy, oversees water and sanitation training and maintains a maintenance fund for sustainability. All three committee had already opened their bank account for their funds.
The communities express their gratitude for the blessing of clean water in many ways….smiling faces, warm and open hearts, singing, clapping and dancing….but today we have a special expression…..we are presented a live goat!

This is a high honor for visitors coming to one of their communities so we accept the gift with gratitude and thankfulness, but gave it back to the community to enjoy a feast in our honor. Several of our traveling group secretly wanted to bring the it back, but Ethiopian Airlines does not have a passenger category for goats!

At each of the communities they express their gratitude and thankfulness by sharing some of their local food. Pictured above on the right is a special dish unique to the JeJu area. They call it porridge, but it’s not like what we would normally expect. It is a very firm cheesecake-like consistency, but not sweet. It is made from honey, spices and a base of barley or corn flour…….actually quite tasty!
One of the great joys of visiting the communities is meeting the people in their place. They are always open, warm and accepting.

Today we will always remember Lakech Woldeyes Adise, a grandmother of 81. She is talkative, outgoing, engaging and has great stamina. She is shown in the picture above with Dolly Holsum from our group. Her husband is also her same age and they live near Babie Burkito. This project is located in deep ravine, and Lakech is leading and helping our team navigate the path both down and up the hill. Of course, she is the first to arrive at the top! Numerous time she expressed her gratitude that now her family living in the area has clean water……saying several times, “water is life”!
We return to our hotel about 7:30 pm, tired but joyous and awe-struck by the day’s events. The words love, joy and gratitude were heard ringing in our head. We were blessed to be part of their communities today!