Water brings hope to drought affected Maiayni village

It is very common for girls like Girmayenesh Kidane, 10,  to travel at least half an hour to fetch water. Whether its safe to drink or not is something secondary. Fifth grader Girmayenesh lives in Mayaini village of Semra town, Tigray, one of the areas hardest hit by the El-Nino induced drought months back.  The drought has made the lives of children like her more difficult as they had to walk additional miles to get water, sometimes dig in the river that went dry, in search of water under the surface.

“ My mother and I take turns to fetch water on normal days. But it was very different during the drought. My mother was very weak to walk. I had to go longer distances on a daily basis to get water with my friends from the river that was getting depleted by the day,” says Girmayenesh. Keeping cattle and farming was almost impossible. Food assistance helped residents survive.

Samre was one of the small towns where World Vision and UNOCHA collaborated to undertake water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. Development of a water source for the community by capping a spring was one of the activities carried out in Mayaini village. This water source has become a life for children like Girmayenesh and the rest of the community members. Cattle trough was also constructed to fill with water and keep the cattle alive, as they no longer had the river as a water source.

“The drought has shown boldly the water problem that this community was having for long, as it is a relatively dry area. It was after the drought that the new water point was constructed,” notes Ashenafi Getachew, WASH officer with World Vision Ethiopia Samre Area Program.

The drought was accompanied later on by heavy rains that broke down dam checks, which community members built to help them grow some crops.

Tekle Hailekiros, 25 and one of the WASH committee members, set up to oversee the management of the water point, had been keeping the water point in condition after the massive sand that came with the flood covered the water meters with mud. He was also involved in reconstructing the dam checks with other community members coordinated by local government representatives and World Vision team there.

It is community members like Tekle Hailekiros who keep the water points keep serving the community and cope with calamities

 “We had some dry times in the past, but this drought was scary. Our crops failed. Cattle started dying. Water is everything for us. This water point constructed by World Vision is a symbol of hope that if the drought comes back, we had a source to get to, at least for some time until the ground source gets depleted, God forbid,” he says.

In the past 12 months, more than 400,000 people were reached with safe water, 102,000 people with access to sanitation facilities and 161,580 people in hygiene promotions, helping them practice healthy hygiene behavior while coping with the drought across Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and Gambella regions through Emergency WASH interventions by World Vision.

Girls like Girmayenesh and her community now travel less to fetch water, the ground is looking greener thanks to the rain that had a heavy toll when it started. The community is trying to cope and move forward and organizations like World Vision Ethiopia were part of the coping times.