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Cyrille Regis spot on for Ethiopia
Cyrille Regis, former England and West Midlands football star, recently visited WaterAid projects in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia water supply coverage is only 22%, a problem exacerbated by periodic droughts and famines. Cyrille went to find out how WaterAid is working with local partners to change the situation. Day 6Yesterday we went to a project in one of the poorest areas in Addis Ababa. In the slum, we saw an absolutely filthy latrine. It was open, rat infested and right next to a kitchen. This latrine was used by 100 to 150 people - there was no dignity, especially for women, and no privacy. We also saw where people went to the toilet in the open - there were faeces everywhere in the town, it was really horrific to see. Here WaterAid is supporting local organisation Intergrated Holistic Approach Urban Development Project (IHA UDP). This organisation looks at the poverty situation for the poorest of the poor in Addis from the bottom up. By going to the poor parts and asking people what problems are, IHA UDP can really design the whole project around their needs. WaterAid is helping to fund water and sanitation aspect of the project including the building of communal toilets, communal wash basins and communal showers. We walked around for two or three hours and it was fascinating to speak to people there. It's a really good programme, but once again it was a drop in the ocean in terms of what the real needs are. But the bottom line is, even if you change just one life, it's worth it. Day 5Today was good, though not as emotionally demanding as it has been for the last few days. We got to see the technical point of view of how an ORDA project is run. ORDA is a local NGO working in the Amhara Region. WaterAid is financing integrated water supply, sanitation and hygiene education projects which ORDA implements in remote and marginalised area in Amhara Region. At the office, we were given a great insight into how ORDA works with other NGOs how they get their funding, the four main areas they work in and lots of insight into how they work with WaterAid. We're back in Addis Ababa now and it's cold. It's was raining last night with lots of thunder and lightning which kept everybody up, but we're back safely and looking forward to tomorrow. Day 4
Today we went to see three different projects. The first one was at a capped spring that served well over a 1000 villagers, which I thought was an excellent project. We also visited various homes with latrines which they mark with white, green or red flags to signify how hygienic the toilet is. After that we went to a place where local villagers still use spring water without it being capped or filtered. This is the site of ORDA's next project. During the long walk through the mud to the spring we had watched young men washing themselves in the streams. On the way back we stopped at a village and saw a girl actually drinking the water. I could only think of what was going on higher up in this spring where I had seen people washing themselves and their clothes amongst roaming animals. It was really upsetting to watch them, thinking of what you've got back home while seeing them in the dirty water and drinking it, using it for cooking and cleaning. Everything you need too. So, all in all, a long but rewarding day during which we saw how money and expertise and collaboration by different organisations can really impact a village. Day 3Yesterday we arrived in Bahir Dar, a city in the north-west of Ethiopia. From there we visited the Blue Nile Falls, one of Ethiopia's best known tourist attractions. 60% of the water from the waterfall has been diverted to generate hydro-electric power to serving the surrounding area. Watching the waterfall was fantastic despite there being only 40% of the waterfall there. It was a great experience just sitting there with the dew and the rushing of the water over the waterfalls, realising that I was looking at the source of the Nile. Day 2
Yesterday we drove to the Hitosa water project. It was good to see how proud the communities are to have pulled such a big project off. I think that part of the original problem was that they didn't think that local communities could handle its scale but it has been running for seven years now and it's going really well. After that we went to see a couple of Hitosa's waterpoints where we met children and spoke to women at the pumps. One woman told us how she used to go and collect water at four o'clock and come back four hours later at eight in the morning. She talked about how dangerous the journey was because of the many hyenas in the area. If a pregnant woman on her way to collecting water went into labour she would have to make the choice about whether to turn back or keep on going to collect water. So having a pump in the village was absolutely vital. Now it is much safer for the everyone, especially women and children. Day 1Coming off the plane I looked at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and it reminded me of the Caribbean; the lush green trees, the roads, the people and the vehicles. Today we are going to the Hitosa district and I’m really looking forward to it. Hitosa is the site of one of WaterAid's most successful projects in the country, the Hitosa gravity scheme. It is part of the largest water supply project in Ethiopia and was constructed by more than 60,000 people in 31 communities, who now all have safe water close to their homes. Water from two springs was tapped to run downhill in pipelines to waterpoints in the heart of 31 villages and towns. Even though the country is really lush, I have been surprised to see that people have to carry a lot of water for long distances even in urban areas. I'm really looking forward to seeing how WaterAid's impact is improving this situation for communities.
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