February Field Update

Much to share - many activities in the field are starting to produce exciting results.

Three rotary clubs (Edina MN, Kirkland WA and Snoqualmie Valley WA) have joined forces with several kind individuals and are now supporting Hamar orphans. Ilu Orgo’s smile says it all. When I met her 4 months ago, her solemn stare was heart-wrenching. Now – her hugs and kisses fill my heart with joy.

Ilu Orgo, female, age approximately 5 is anxious to move to our camp in Wonga Bayno.

The elders of Wonga Bayno have said “yes.” They agree we can raise orphans (traditionally considered to bring misfortune to the tribe) in their community. This is a gigantic first step.

Still needed: adequate funding to eradicate the practice of child abandonment in Hamar.

It’s very encouraging to see the outcomes of “Self-Reliance thru Small Business” grant funded by 11 Rotary clubs, 4 districts and Wolfgang Seiler estate:

The school is finished and students are learning Amharic and English. Unfortunately, since female attendance is directly connected to bead-making, when production slowed down to match sales, female school attendance decreased.

Beading is ramping up, in preparation of 2012 sales; so once again, young girls are coming to school.

Chicken farming is in full-swing in Wonga Bayno. Under the watchful eye of Gedion, Livelihood Coordinator, our chickens acclimated to the wind and heat of Wonga Bayno, 40 adults proved they use pit latrines; attended school; built chicken coops and 10 days ago, received 5 chickens each.  They also participated in an egg-eating feast!  Eggs are new to the Hamar diet.

Seyu Elu is a model woman. She is active in Wonga Bayno’s women cooperative, is a community leader in Hygiene and sanitation training, and now is a chicken farmer. She’s one of my close friends.

Efforts to perfect goat-skin tanning are being led by the builder of our school and benefactor, Peter Seiler. If we can tan the goat skins locally, Hamar have potential to earn good money. We are still in the “figuring out stage.”

Creating lye out of ashes to easily remove fur is in the experimentation stage. Currently, four strong men alternate scraping the skin for three evenings.

Next step: making the skin supple WHILE eliminating all odor.

The Women’s Cooperative of Minogelti is actively buying and selling products for their rural trading center.

They recently gave our field purchaser, Bayu Ferede, 7,000 birr ($405) to take to Addis Ababa to purchase a list of items. This is a huge step – selling product, saving money, planning what/how much to buy.

Learning to speak Amharic and do simple calculations at the FAL (Functional Adult Literacy) school made this possible (and funding from the US Embassy of Ethiopia).

We are still waiting for the 3^rd shallow well drilling contractor who has promised to drill the final two shallow drilled wells currently under contract – many promises but no performance. The still to be constructed wells are in Itu, Minogelti (funded by Rotary) and Bala, Wonga Bayno (funded by USAID.) Fortunately, we still have plenty of time to construct these wells, but it is frustrating, to say the least.

AMAZING NEWS:

GTLI has just been awarded a grant from USAID/OFDA to refurbish 15 water schemes and train 7,200 people in healthy hygiene/sanitation behavior. The challenge is to accomplish this in 4 months.

Our strategy: employ Hamar ergas (community facilitators) who have developed leadership skills while participating in our previous CBLA (Community-based Learning in Action) hygiene/sanitation projects and facilitate Hamar teaching Hamar.

Meet Lingo Askar. He is the leader of the Household Inspection Team in Aldo, Wonga Bayno. He’s committed to healthy hygiene/sanitation behavior, regularly lectures other community members on the importance of pit latrine usage, and is now one GTLI’s newest community workers.

Lingo and 14 other Hamar men and women (yes, WOMEN) will spend the next four months working in 15 communities promoting healthy hygiene/sanitation behavior. 

The opportunity for “uneducated rural Hamar adults” to be employed as Hygiene/Sanitation experts AND earn money will benefit Hamar in countless ways.

We are incredibly excited and honored to be a part of this transformation!!

Hamar community members (male & female) employed to teach other Hamar outside their community healthy hygiene/sanitation behavior.

“Helping Hamar Help Themselves” is becoming a reality!!