Staff Journals from Ethiopia

Enjoy a little taste of the recent journey to Ethiopia from one of Jennifer Jones' trip journals: 

Thursday, February 25, 2010. It’s 10:30pm now and I only just arrived to my room. My laptop had charging problems so yet again, I was unable to complete my overview of Wednesday. How I will do them both now I don’t know. So much has occurred and every detail has significance. 

On Wednesday we had another water well dedication in the morning, the feeding program and then another water well dedication. It was a long day, as are most. The location of the second new water well was beyond the one from Tuesday. You cannot imagine the drive to get there. The roads are marked primarily by foot traffic, deep ruts and rocks. It is so rough we have to drive approximately 15 miles per hour. There are times that our bus has only a few inches of room on either side to fit through the narrow path. The horn is blown every three to five minutes to move people and animals from the only path the bus can fit. The same was true of the afternoon dedication. 

The morning well was near a very small area of water. It was so small, I wouldn’t even call it a pond. The water was dirty muck. There was a little girl of maybe eight years old collecting water in small bottles. Less than three meters from her, cows were drinking and grazing in the same water. 

The afternoon well was closer to the main road, but we still had to get out and walk a distance to reach it as the bus couldn’t make it. This time the location was overlooking an even smaller stream of stagnant water. The stream lay beneath very steep walls with tiny paths marked by the bare feet of women and children who have collected water here for years. At some points of passage, the path was only one foot wide with crumbling steep terrain to one side and the drop off to the stream to the next. Navigation was tricky. Especially while holding a very heavy bag and an expensive video camera. 

To imagine that these people are forced to use this to collect water multiple times a day is overwhelming. When it rains, many fall and are injured badly. Others are attacked by wild animals as they have nowhere to run and are trapped at the bottom of a deep valley. But they must risk this every day. 

I wouldn’t even put my hand or foot into this water. But they drink it, cook with it, clean their clothes and bodies in it, just as cattle do the same. Many contract water-born diseases and get very sick just from the water. Thousands have died over the years of water-born diseases from these water sources, yet it is has been the only source for them until today. 

The joy the people have for what we have given them is beyond description. They sing, dance, clap and cheer. They praise God continuously. They attempt to shake our hands in the way to show honor to someone. Now, they can drink freely and without fear for they have clean water from their new water wells. 

As the well was dedicated, children began collecting water for their families. Initially, they were very timid, moving slowly. The next thing we knew, they were having a water fight. They had the biggest smiles you have ever seen. It was a reminder that “kids are kids” no matter what country they are from. 

To end one of the dedications, we all sat in a circle on top of branches of leaves that the locals had only then cut down for us to sit on. We had soda and bread with the elders. And they spoke to us, sharing the history, the journey and the new hope they have. 

We dedicated three water wells on this trip. We actually dug five this month. And we have done 15 all together over the past two years. But Angacha needs a total of 85 wells to provide 100% clean water coverage for the people.