Catherine recently went to inspect a new hand-dug well in Degola. When I arrived, the contractor was just installing the pump. Yalew (in the red shirt) jumped in to give a hand.The ladies were waiting with their jerry cans and were anxious to use it! There was great excitement and amazing smiles on their faces when the first the first buckets were filled so quickly with clean clean water right by their homes.

One of our lady contractors built this magnificent new hand-dug well with a fabulous living fence of an endemic succulent. This is where life can start to change for the people that live here. Women and children scoop water out of a hole in the ground. A pump installed over a new well with a fence of endemic trees.

The village of Denkaz Eyesus is over 3000m above sea level (ASL) and is quite isolated. With the paid help of the people who live there, Gizat (one of our contractors) has built a beautiful new hand-dug well to provide them with all the clean fresh water they desire. It took just 4 weeks and AUD5,000 to replace a hole in the ground with a life-changing pump. Fabulous!

Today we signed a contract for our 100th improved water source! The contractors in the picture will do the major renovations required so that it can provide water for a school of 900 children.

We are a small organisation but we want to be one of the best in what we do. Among several improvements we have made this year, we have introduced water testing. The water that comes from our installations is now tested for quality, heavy metals and coliforms. This is a screening test, so if we get a positive return for heavy metals, a sample is taken to a laboratory for comprehensive testing. So far all the water is clean, tastes great, free of coliforms and heavy metals!