More notes from Sodo
Updated: 2 days ago
A further update for you. We have had a really busy and arduous week but have made a lot of progress.
We now have four projects that are so greatly needed. The council workers are completely across them as is the contractor they have selected to oversee the work. We have ironed out a few problems around our understanding of how their system works and the challenges they face.
The area is in enormous need. At today’s site, we found out that the people have asked for clean water for 18 years but the council has never had the money. Everyone suffers from gut disease and they have had injuries fetching water. They also have a lichen that I have read about before but don’t know much about. It’s passed through the water and causes illness and death - I THINK it affects the brain but can’t research it at the moment because of limited wifi. When we got to the community and were looking at the proposed sites today, Yalew and I looked up to see lines of men making their way towards us down the mountain, all carrying something to dig with. With a long piece of string, the council workers and the community measured and marked out the path for the pipeline that will run about 1.3 km down the mountain. As they marked, the men started digging - some of them were really old. We were there all day. We were given food and coffee. At the end of the day, there were a couple of heartfelt speeches from respected men and a prayer said. As we made our way back to the vehicle, several ladies hugged me (which they don’t do to a stranger) for a long time, some ladies were crying, and a really old man took his hat off and bowed to me with tears streaming down his face. Needless to say, it was a really emotional day at the end of an emotional week.
I have currently agreed to the four projects we have been shown but the contracts are not signed yet. These are going to cost around AUD 60K in total. Yalew and I are so impressed with the relationship between the council and the communities, we are impressed by the standard of work that we see here, and we are impressed with the sustainability of the sites and the organisation around them. Each point where water can be collected has a cattle trough that catches the water used to wash jerry cans or spilt as people fill their containers. It also has a sloping table that is used for washing clothes with a drain that carries the water from the site.
We have a few operational problems:
Fuel is in extremely short supply. We have a letter from the government saying that we are to be given priority for fuel because of our work but entire towns have no fuel to the point where the government has said there will be no work or school on Wednesdays across the entire country until the situation improves.
The tankers, cattle troughs and laundry tables are all made in moulds on site. They are really exceptional but the moulds are limited.
Because of the complexity of the work, there is only one contractor who is well enough experienced to oversee the projects
We are working in three languages. Yalew doesn’t understand all of the language here and the culture here is to explain things at length so communication is complex and takes a while
Yalew had previously spoken to a council about 200km from here but there is now tribal fighting in that region and it is no longer safe to go there
So at the moment we have decided to:
Stay in Sodo until Monday when we can go back to see the head of the council who has been incredibly helpful
On Monday we will sign two contracts with the contractor and order and pay for the materials for two sites which he will commence
In about 5 weeks we will come back to see how things are progressing and if we are happy we will sign the other contracts and pay for the materials
If things are going really well, we would like to continue to work with this council because of their need and their systems. We can operate over a longer period of time here because unlike the areas further north where we have worked in the past, this area has a wet season that does not stop work because it is not torrential. In addition, they have rain all year round so they do not have on large crop and harvest which stops the availability of labour most of the year
In the meantime, Yalew can make other new connections with other woredas in the area by phone
The people of the mountains send their blessings
Catherine
