Community Based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Hosanna, Ethiopia

A staggering 78 percent of Ethiopians lack access to a safe supply of water, and 94 percent lack adequate sanitation. These rates are much lower than other sub-Saharan African nations, which average 42 percent and 64 percent without access respectively. The need is even greater in the Limu and Soro districts of central Ethiopia, where 50,000 people are in urgent need of assistance.

"It was like the land was groaning," explains Lifewater's Director of Projects, Patricia Klever, describing her reaction as she entered the drought-stricken land. Historically, this area has suffered a lack of water development programs due to its remote location and the difficulty of transporting drilling equipment over poorly developed roads.

Lifewater International is intervening in this crisis by providing safe water, sanitary facilities, and basic health education at ten primary schools and their surrounding communities in the Hosanna area of south-central Ethiopia. This eighteen-month project, a partnership with a large Ethiopian church denomination, will serve approximately ten thousand school children and their families.

With funding from a generous donor, Lifewater has begun the process of ordering and shipping a lightweight, portable drilling machine to Ethiopia. This hydraulic machine can be mounted on a truck and transported to remote areas like Limu and Soro districts. Lifewater will send field trainers to Ethiopia in summer 2008 to provide hands-on training to EECMY technicians using the new drilling equipment. Once this preparatory step is completed, Lifewater-trained technicians will begin drilling test wells in each of the ten project communities. In order to ensure the maintenance of each well, EECMY will train two caretakers from each community.

Thus far Lifewater has raised 62 percent of the $481,327 project budget through funding from the United States Agency for International Development, private donors, and volunteers. Each well costs approximately $4,500 and will benefit approximately 1,000 community members.

Join Lifewater in supporting the people of central Ethiopia by contributing to this project. Please contact Erin Roberts, eroberts@lifewater.org, for more information.

"Your God is powerful. He has given us water." - Muslim woman served by Lifewater, Doyo, Ethiopia

Little Green Data Book 2006. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2006).