In early 2010, we began working on a project with several of our partners to provide safe water in Kalo village. If you’ve followed our story for the last few years, you’ve probably heard about the project.  In fact, you can see the timeline here. What you probably don’t know is that today, the well is not fully functional.  It hasn’t been for a few…

Turns out the Self-Help Groups we’ve helped sponsor are saving $.05 per person, per week. Now, altogether the 87 groups have collected about 77, 000 ETB.  Purchasing power is hard to calculate because what someone pays for out in a rural village (grain, seed, clothes, water) is not what you typically buy in the city, and if it is, the price is most likely different.  When we stay…

Link: No, they are not poor. Check out this post from missionary Scott Wisely. He answers the question about whether rural Ethiopians are ‘poor’ in a poignant way from his experience in Papau. “What do I believe if I have to come in and put in a clean water system for you and build all your houses and teach you farmers to raise vegetables and…

Depends on your perspective, right? Or your priorities. The other day we posted a picture on our blog of a young man working his grain field with an ox and wooden tiller. Is it accurate to say he is poor strictly based on the stone-age farming techniques being employed? Does it matter how we describe people who live like this?  Whenever we discuss economic status with our Ethiopian friends, they are quick…

Potential.

To call this poverty is misleading. To call it desirable is ignorant.

 Aklilu Lalego, director of the rural Self-Help Program in South Ethiopia, explained that the Self-Help Groups close to Addis Ababa, which have grown in many ways to resemble small banks for their members, have gained an official recognition from the Ethiopian government. He noted that in general, as towns and communities are growing and developing on their own, the national government is becoming less centralized and giving…

Partnership.

Meet a teacher who is spreading hope for Ethiopian girls through cooking! Catch this raw interview of Romana Casa, Head Instructor for the Cooking Program at Selam Awassa Technical and Vocational College.  Disregard the shoddy interviewer!

Sustenance.