Saturday's Field Report
Today we went back to the kebele of Waraza to visit the community who is next on the priority list for the water office in Gesuba. This is the community from which the senior men have been coming to see us on each of our three trips. It’s a lovely area in the “lowlands” ie only about 1700m ASL! It is very hot, very humid and very tropical. It’s pretty and crowded with banana palms, and productive vegetable gardens. But the people are in huge need of clean drinking water.
There is a fabulous spring there which was developed nearly 30 years ago. The plan is to build a new spring development further back into the cliff face to catch much more water. If we do this, we can supply about 1,000 more people down the mountain. At the moment, there is just one water point coming from this old spring. In addition to replacing the spring, we will renovate the existing spring, construct two reservoirs, three new water points, three washing tables and three cattle troughs. This system will extend over about 2.5km.
After we had a look at it this morning and talked to some members of the community, Tesche and Dawitt from the water office stayed on to survey the site ie measure distances, mark out the pipeline, and create a list of all the materials we need for the project.
On Monday, we are all meeting up. As I mentioned in the previous email, Mokie the contractor will have a price for the labour and we will have a price for the materials. I’m optimistic that the money I have available will cover the cost but if needed, I will divide the contract into two parts so that work can start and the second part can get under way when we actually have funding available.
Just to clarify:
We have checked out two projects that are next on the priority list for the water office.
One is at Waraza (today’s visit) and I think we have almost enough money to do this.
The second is at Qanqo. We do not have the money for this one yet at all but the water office will have surveyed the project next week and we will have a price for labour by then. So once we have the money, work can start.
This week has demonstrated the relationship we have with the council and the contractor. We have had very respectful discussions this week about how we are working together and how our values align. Mokie the contractor seemed a bit cynical of me until he saw me wash a little boy’s face - after that, our relationship changed - he has impaired vision from trachoma as a child from dirty water and he respects what we are doing. The water office is frustrated because no other organisations want to even look at these remote communities while their belief is that just because you live in a remote region, doesn’t stop you from deserving clean water, good health, and the ability to go to school - and we certainly agree with that. We keep seeing how hard they work and how well respected the water office and the contractor are in the communities. We have also carved out a bit of a reputation for ourselves amongst the locals.
Given all of this, Yalew and I have talked about the logistics of getting the Qanqo contract under way. We now don’t need to physically come back for that - when WFAV has the funding, Yalew will sign a contract for WFAV with Mokie and the water office via email. Then in a few months when all the work is completed, Yalew and I will come back in person and check everything.
Tomorrow Yalew, Birhun and I are going to loll about - it’s Sunday so I never expect anyone to be available here - and we all need a day off anyway.
Cheers
Catherine
