Today we are still in the rugged Seglamen area of Tigray, visiting more projects with our implementing partners Glimmer and REST.

I can officially label today “Mountain Goat Day”

The picture above was the first one I took on the way to the projects……notice the mountain goat to the right of the woman carrying the jerry can.  Little did I know at that time how appropriate it was! Today we visited four projects, two finished and two in progress. Three of the four projects had no road access to them. 

In fact, our walk to these three projects always started at the rim of canyon and then proceeded down steep, rugged paths (sort of), between rocks and boulders.  All three of these projects are located in a deep valley or riverbed, 300 to 400 feet below our starting point.

The first project we visit is May Kodo, a finished hang dug well located at the bottom of a river valley. You can see the finished project just across the river, with the stone wall surrounding and protecting the water project. In June of this year, our travel group was in this area and we witness the project technician blasting the rock in the well.  Because it was at the end of the day then, we choose to see the work from the rim of the canyon.  Today we make the 40 minute walk down and 1 hour walk out to meet the community and share greetings. 

In June 2011, our travel group visited the May Koho community where we saw women and children gathering water from a spring feed pond that was being shared by the animals in the community as it was the only nearby water source. The spring provides plenty of water but it just became contaminated because it was unprotected. Because of the dire need, REST placed this project in the 2012 W2T Seglamen projects.

You can see from the picture above that construction of the reservoir for the spring protection system is well underway. When completed and capped, the reservoir will store 5,000 liters of water for use by the community and a cattle trough will be located down the hill (so that it is separated from the communities water source) to provide water for the livestock.

At the May Koho site, I had the pleasure of meeting Alganesh Berhe, shown in the picture above, seated on “her” project.  Alganesh is 28 years old (completed the 10th grade) and worked for REST for 5 years and is a certified spring development technician.  She supervises the construction, insures the quality of work, manages the logistics to meet the schedule and mobilizes the community to provide their help in construction. She manages 3-4 projects like May Koho each year……an incredible role model for the young girls in the communities she is serving. Amazing!

Our legs are weary after returning to the canyon rim for the second time, but we forge on to visit our third project at Enda Michael. Like May Kodo, this project is located near the river bed in a deep valley.  It is a hand dug well that is under construction.

When we arrive, there are about 40 community members, both women and men, gathering stones to be used in the masonry lining of the well. You can see from the picture above the stones are not small.  This is another great example of how much “sweat equity” the community invests in making the project possible.

While we visit with the community, the technician at Enda Michael is busy in the bottom of the well, drilling holes to place plastic explosives to break up the rock. We stick around to get to see the explosive set off with a loud bang! The topography in this river valley is solid dense rock, so each blast breaks loose about 10-12 inches of rock…..this has to be done many times to reach a depth of 30-35 feet.

Even more weary when we reach the top for the third time, we head toward our 4th and final project for the day.  Fortunately, it is right on the way as we drive back to Axum.

As we approach the site, we are all distracted by the beautiful, natural painting God has created for us as we look across the canyon valley toward the south and the Simien Mountains. The different layers of the mountains in varying shades of blue are glorious and striking. The camera doesn’t do it justice, but I hope you can enjoy this moment with us. Besides the blessing of clean water, another one of God’s great gifts today!

 

 

 Today we are still in the rugged Seglamen area of Tigray, visiting more projects with our implementing partners Glimmer and REST.

I can officially label today “Mountain Goat Day”

The picture above was the first one I took on the way to the projects……notice the mountain goat to the right of the woman carrying the jerry can.  Little did I know at that time how appropriate it was! Today we visited four projects, two finished and two in progress. Three of the four projects had no road access to them. 

In fact, our walk to these three projects always started at the rim of canyon and then proceeded down steep, rugged paths (sort of), between rocks and boulders.  All three of these projects are located in a deep valley or riverbed, 300 to 400 feet below our starting point.

The first project we visit is May Kodo, a finished hang dug well located at the bottom of a river valley. You can see the finished project just across the river, with the stone wall surrounding and protecting the water project. In June of this year, our travel group was in this area and we witness the project technician blasting the rock in the well.  Because it was at the end of the day then, we choose to see the work from the rim of the canyon.  Today we make the 40 minute walk down and 1 hour walk out to meet the community and share greetings. 

In June 2011, our travel group visited the May Koho community where we saw women and children gathering water from a spring feed pond that was being shared by the animals in the community as it was the only nearby water source. The spring provides plenty of water but it just became contaminated because it was unprotected. Because of the dire need, REST placed this project in the 2012 W2T Seglamen projects.

You can see from the picture above that construction of the reservoir for the spring protection system is well underway. When completed and capped, the reservoir will store 5,000 liters of water for use by the community and a cattle trough will be located down the hill (so that it is separated from the communities water source) to provide water for the livestock.

At the May Koho site, I had the pleasure of meeting Alganesh Berhe, shown in the picture above, seated on “her” project.  Alganesh is 28 years old (completed the 10th grade) and worked for REST for 5 years and is a certified spring development technician.  She supervises the construction, insures the quality of work, manages the logistics to meet the schedule and mobilizes the community to provide their help in construction. She manages 3-4 projects like May Koho each year……an incredible role model for the young girls in the communities she is serving. Amazing!

Our legs are weary after returning to the canyon rim for the second time, but we forge on to visit our third project at Enda Michael. Like May Kodo, this project is located near the river bed in a deep valley.  It is a hand dug well that is under construction.

When we arrive, there are about 40 community members, both women and men, gathering stones to be used in the masonry lining of the well. You can see from the picture above the stones are not small.  This is another great example of how much “sweat equity” the community invests in making the project possible.

While we visit with the community, the technician at Enda Michael is busy in the bottom of the well, drilling holes to place plastic explosives to break up the rock. We stick around to get to see the explosive set off with a loud bang! The topography in this river valley is solid dense rock, so each blast breaks loose about 10-12 inches of rock…..this has to be done many times to reach a depth of 30-35 feet.

Even more weary when we reach the top for the third time, we head toward our 4th and final project for the day.  Fortunately, it is right on the way as we drive back to Axum.

As we approach the site, we are all distracted by the beautiful, natural painting God has created for us as we look across the canyon valley toward the south and the Simien Mountains. The different layers of the mountains in varying shades of blue are glorious and striking. The camera doesn’t do it justice, but I hope you can enjoy this moment with us. Besides the blessing of clean water, another one of God’s great gifts today!