This blog post was written by Water to Thrive summer intern Lars Anderson, sharing his experiences in Ethiopia.

As an intern with Water to Thrive this summer, I had the awesome opportunity to travel with the W2T team to Ethiopia. I’m a student studying civil engineering at Valparaiso University in Indiana. Over the past year, I have discovered that I have an interest and passion to connect my engineering skills to international humanitarian work. So taking a trip where I would not only experience a new culture but also see the technical process involved in providing clean water was a fulfilling, yet challenging endeavor.

I learned a lot about the nature of working in another country. I recognized the difficulties that arise when implementing water projects and the amount of people and resources that are necessary to provide a sustainable source of drinking water. Fortunately, I saw a lot more success than failure. The impact that W2T and its implementing partners are having in rural communities in Ethiopia is clear. In each of the twelve communities that we visited, we heard about the effects that clean and available water could have on the well-being and health of people. 

The communities that we visited had each recently had a well completed or would have one soon. Each one serves at least 200 people and often many more due to the need in the areas. At some of the most recently completed wells, we were greeted with popcorn, coffee, dancing, and shouts of celebration. But at every completed site, we heard how much of a difference the clean and accessible water was having on the health and well-being of the people.

As W2T’s Executive Director Susanne Wilson explained well in the previous post, clean and accessible water is a link to so much more. And along with all of the benefits she listed, water can bring hope and life to a community and enable people to seek further improvements and opportunities that may not have been present before. There is an incredible transformation that happens in a community of people when there is a shift from only surviving to thriving, and it’s inspiring for me and I think for everyone who may have witnessed that on a Water to Thrive trip. This also gives so much more meaning to the organization’s name and mission.

Over the span of two weeks, we were able to see this impact that clean water has but we were also able to visit many historic landmarks and tour major cities in the country. Our tour guide, Yohannes, was full of information about and passion for the people in his country, which made it enjoyable wherever we went. We traveled to six major cities, and spent the most time touring three: Addis Ababa, Lalibella, and Axum. (If you haven’t had the chance to read about all that we experienced in these cities, take a look at the previous blog entries.)

I mentioned that for me, this trip was both fulfilling and challenging. Certainly, learning so much about the country and celebrating with the communities on behalf of generous donors was the fulfilling aspect. The challenging aspect, and maybe it would be better stated as the humbling aspect, came in as we spent time with representatives of W2T’s implementing partners. We met just a few of these Ethiopians from W2T’s partners REST and DAASC and one thing was clear to me as we traveled with them: Without these organizations and their intuitive and skilled leaders, none of the projects we saw could have been  completed with the same results. For me, it was really neat to see how these leaders, who each had technical backgrounds, had committed themselves to addressing the massive need of clean water supply in their country.

I realized that a sustainable water project requires so much more than technical knowledge. It requires forming water committees, performing WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) training, encouraging community mobilization, and considering a multitude of different social and economic factors. It’s easy to read about these, but it can be very difficult to understand the amount of work and resources that are necessary. It was neat to see how W2T’s partners dealt with all of these challenges and implemented wells that will hopefully last for a long time.

 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to travel to the beautiful country of Ethiopia. It was certainly an experience that has impacted my life and perspective in many ways. I look forward to the rest of my internship with Water to Thrive and to learning more about working internationally in the area of clean and accessible water.

 

This blog post was written by Water to Thrive summer intern Lars Anderson, sharing his experiences in Ethiopia.

As an intern with Water to Thrive this summer, I had the awesome opportunity to travel with the W2T team to Ethiopia. I’m a student studying civil engineering at Valparaiso University in Indiana. Over the past year, I have discovered that I have an interest and passion to connect my engineering skills to international humanitarian work. So taking a trip where I would not only experience a new culture but also see the technical process involved in providing clean water was a fulfilling, yet challenging endeavor.

I learned a lot about the nature of working in another country. I recognized the difficulties that arise when implementing water projects and the amount of people and resources that are necessary to provide a sustainable source of drinking water. Fortunately, I saw a lot more success than failure. The impact that W2T and its implementing partners are having in rural communities in Ethiopia is clear. In each of the twelve communities that we visited, we heard about the effects that clean and available water could have on the well-being and health of people. 

The communities that we visited had each recently had a well completed or would have one soon. Each one serves at least 200 people and often many more due to the need in the areas. At some of the most recently completed wells, we were greeted with popcorn, coffee, dancing, and shouts of celebration. But at every completed site, we heard how much of a difference the clean and accessible water was having on the health and well-being of the people.

As W2T’s Executive Director Susanne Wilson explained well in the previous post, clean and accessible water is a link to so much more. And along with all of the benefits she listed, water can bring hope and life to a community and enable people to seek further improvements and opportunities that may not have been present before. There is an incredible transformation that happens in a community of people when there is a shift from only surviving to thriving, and it’s inspiring for me and I think for everyone who may have witnessed that on a Water to Thrive trip. This also gives so much more meaning to the organization’s name and mission.

Over the span of two weeks, we were able to see this impact that clean water has but we were also able to visit many historic landmarks and tour major cities in the country. Our tour guide, Yohannes, was full of information about and passion for the people in his country, which made it enjoyable wherever we went. We traveled to six major cities, and spent the most time touring three: Addis Ababa, Lalibella, and Axum. (If you haven’t had the chance to read about all that we experienced in these cities, take a look at the previous blog entries.)

I mentioned that for me, this trip was both fulfilling and challenging. Certainly, learning so much about the country and celebrating with the communities on behalf of generous donors was the fulfilling aspect. The challenging aspect, and maybe it would be better stated as the humbling aspect, came in as we spent time with representatives of W2T’s implementing partners. We met just a few of these Ethiopians from W2T’s partners REST and DAASC and one thing was clear to me as we traveled with them: Without these organizations and their intuitive and skilled leaders, none of the projects we saw could have been  completed with the same results. For me, it was really neat to see how these leaders, who each had technical backgrounds, had committed themselves to addressing the massive need of clean water supply in their country.

I realized that a sustainable water project requires so much more than technical knowledge. It requires forming water committees, performing WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) training, encouraging community mobilization, and considering a multitude of different social and economic factors. It’s easy to read about these, but it can be very difficult to understand the amount of work and resources that are necessary. It was neat to see how W2T’s partners dealt with all of these challenges and implemented wells that will hopefully last for a long time.

 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to travel to the beautiful country of Ethiopia. It was certainly an experience that has impacted my life and perspective in many ways. I look forward to the rest of my internship with Water to Thrive and to learning more about working internationally in the area of clean and accessible water.