Bensa, Ethiopia, is home to 250,727 people. In Bensa, most families live in traditional mud-thatched houses roofed with dried brush from the surrounding forest. Most families rely on agriculture for their annual income, and water scarcity is what the communities deem their most significant problem. Water usage is extremely low, with the average household using only 12 gallons of water per day between five-six people.

The WHO recommends a minimum of 13 gallons per day per person to meet a human's basic needs like hydration and hygiene. This means that in Bensa, families are surviving off sips of water a day.

Women and children spend hours a day making trips to unprotected springs or rivers. Contaminated water is dangerous for everyone, but particularly children under the age of five. Their immune systems are still developing, and they aren't able to fight the illnesses like adults.

The good news is, waterborne illness is entirely preventable with access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. Project 29 - Clean Water for Bensa, in partnership with Lifewater, is eMiters opportunity to make that change happen for hundreds in Ethiopia!

Project Scope

Country:  Ethiopia

District: Bensa

# Served: 598

Need: COMPLETED

Provide clean water for families in Bensa, Ethiopia.

December Update

After a 20+ hour flight, our infield team landed in Ethiopia for Project 29, where we met our partner Lifewater and drove to Bensa. Kasa Damota, Lifewater's Sanitation and Hygiene Officer, accompanied us to visit the newly built water sources. He explained that there are currently eight water safety promoters in Bensa that work closely with the communities, helping them learn and practice sanitation and hygiene.

We had the honor of meeting and spending a few days with Amsalech Tadesse and her family to share their story. Amsalech and her husband are raising 2 young boys and living in Chillaka Anidi village, which received a new water source with your support. They voiced to us that their former water source caused diarrhea and abdominal cramps for the family. Recently, one of the boys became very sick, needing to spend a few days in the hospital, which cost the family around 1,000 Ethiopian Birr. Not only did the water make them sick, but during rainy days, the road made it dangerous for Amsalech to fetch water, and on sunny days she would have to wait in a 3-hour line with all the other women and girls from the community to collect dirty, unsafe water.

We're excited to share Amaselch's story, and the difference made through your generosity and clean water throughout her community. Stay tuned for a very special Celebration Video coming on December 21st!

October Update

Exciting update! Chilaka Huleti and Chilaka Anidi villages now have clean and safe drinking water. Woohoo! 

Our team has just returned from being infield and are so excited to share with you all the photos and stories of families you are impacting through your generosity. 

In the meantime here are a few snapshots that our incredible videographer sent over.

AUGUST UPDATE

Attached is a video our partner Lifewater captured to show the piping construction that connects the spring high up the mountain with the two villages our giving community is supporting.

Meet Bekelech! Bekelech and her husband, Damis, grew up in Ethiopia, where survival took precedence over education. They live with their five children in Chilaka Huleti village. Three times a day, Bekelech or her daughters would walk 1.5 miles to the village spring to gather contaminated, dirty water that would eventually make them sick. In Ethiopia, water-related illnesses are so common that families are accustomed to spending most of their income on treatment. 

Now Bekelech and her family have access to clean, safe water and can use their income to invest in their dairy farm business.  Through Project 29, our giving community is providing clean water to hundreds of families just like Bekelech’s - transforming their futures. Thank you! 

JULY UPDATE

Lifewater is a Christian organization dedicated to ending the global water and sanitation crisis.

Our partner trains local leaders to spread awareness in their assigned neighborhood about healthy practices to increase sanitation. This month, our partner met with all of their country directors: Spera in Uganda, Berhanu in Ethiopia, Kamara in Tanzania, and Rom in Cambodia. 

They were sharing the logistics of how church partnerships support the work of bringing safe drinking water and Living Water to the communities they serve. The local churches implement and share improved health practices with the surrounding villages, based on their training, and become a hub within the communities for physical and spiritual healing. Rom, pastor of a church in Srae Noy, Cambodia, that is passionate about reaching the vulnerable with the Gospel, said, “We don’t only want to see outward health, but strong spiritual health from the inside out. Over the past 3 months, over 150 people in the Ethiopian program areas have come to know Jesus. 

June Update

Life in Chilaka Anidi: Marta’s Story 

Marta Danigiso did not know what to expect when she moved from Hawassa, a city in central Ethiopia, to rural Chilaka Anidi village. What she found as she married and began raising her three children was a village with no clean water. Chilaka Anidi is a quiet village of 50 families. 

Each day, Marta gathers water at a spring near the root of a large tree. Domestic animals roam freely about the village and drink from the water, and it is highly contaminated. Despite her efforts to gather water early in the morning (while the dirt is settled and the animals have yet to drink from it), she and her three boys still fall sick. 

“The unsafe water has exposed us to different water-related diseases,” she said.

The high cost of treatment for water-related diseases is keeping the Danigisos and other families in poverty. Marta said that the money they have spent on medicine this year could have been saved to improve their home and wellbeing.

With safe water, Marta hopes to save time, money, and start a business churning and selling butter. “I hope to... send all of our children to a better school,” she said. Marta’s dreams of starting a business and sending her children to receive an education are those of so many parents in Chilaka Anidi.

Because of you Marta’s family and others in Chilaka Anidi will have access to clean safe drinking water. Your gift will provide health training for each household, plus a new, safe water source near their village. Lasting change means more than just building a well. Local Lifewater staff will work house by house to teach healthy habits and share the love of Christ with everyone.

April Update

Our partner Lifewater spends an average of 3 years in the villages they serve, preparing each household and certifying them as healthy before the water point is constructed. A village is considered healthy when "90% of the village boasts Healthy Homes. When each household demonstrates that it practices five healthy habits like washing hands and drying dishes safely, it earns a 'Healthy Home' certificate, making their improvements official." Becoming a Healthy Village is a celebration and signifies the significant steps families have made together.

Our givers are not only giving clean water to 500 people, but also education on how to prevent diseases best and create healthy households for brighter futures.