We started our day with an important meeting with a government administrator nearby to Robit where we visited yesterday. The water committee at Robit was having difficulty getting the administrator to release funds from the maintenance fund to purchase fuel for the generator.  Since the borehole is serviced by electricity this is not needed all the time, just when the village is without electricity.  Happy to say the parties agreed to work through the issues in ordered to define a more timely process to release funds for the needed fuel.

 

We have been in Gondar area for the last three days, and we can say definitively that the rainy season has arrived early this year.  Each day, heavy rains came in the afternoons, making our time in the field a bit challenging. Many of the roads leading to our project areas are “improved” but not paved or topped with gravel. The picture above shows on of these typical pathways with a deep mud hole. We must have crossed more than 20 of these today… thankfully,.due to our expert driver, we never got stuck in one!

 For our time in the field today, we visited three communities with our implementing partner associated with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. First was Jura, which is a hand-dug well in progress that will be completed in the next week or so. After that we visited two completed projects from 2017, Guna Kura and Kencha Wuho.

At Jura, we experienced a nice surprise…….we meet Dasash, above, whose home was less than 50 yards from the project. Dasasb is on the water committee and after a discussion about the new project, she invited us into her home for an impromptu lunch. Dasash is married with six children ranging in age from three years to 20. Her family shared their injera and shiro (spicy ground chickpeas) with our group.

 

Shortly before our departure, the husband arrived home and we learned that the family are garlic farmers. He proudly showed us his storage barn for the three different types of harvested garlic. This is a cash crop for the family and their primary source of income.

 

Definitely my favorite picture of the day came as we approached the hand dug well at Guna Kura.  Three young girls, balancing 45+ pounds of clean water on their heads, making their way home.  In the background, behind the tree, is the water project, with more than 20 community members calmly waiting their turn to gather clean, safe water for their families, the essence of our mission.