On the Road from Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar is the capitol of Gojam, the central region of Ethiopia, and is often referred to as the 'breadbasket” of the country because of the cereal crops it produces (mainly Teff used to make injera, the bread which is eaten every day). The people in Gojam are mainly Amheric and known for their hard work. Gojam is also a very poor part of the county and one where Partners in the Horn of Africa is heavily engaged with several Ethiopian 'partner' NGOs (non- Governmental organizations...usually charities). Among our projects in Gojam is our Ophan fostering project where we have placed 200 HIV orphans with extended family members and a Group Home for teenage orphan girls attending high school. We have also built a Women's Center in, several classroom blocks, clean water wells and a school library. We like working in Gojam and there is a real need in the Region.

This trip to Gojam was to check out possible projects in Adet and Finote Selam, two villages a few hours drive from Bahir Dar. We always love visiting Bahir Dar on the shores of Lake Tana with its world famous monasteries where legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant was first hidden after its removal from Jerusalem and before its transfer to Axum in Northern Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie had a palace in Bahir Dar and is said to have always wanted to transfer the capitol from Addis Ababa to this lovely city with its wide boulevards and stately palm trees. Bahir Dar is the site of Partners' annual orphan picnic when we bring the 200 kids enrolled in our fostering project to the big city for two days of partying, awards, soccer matches and sightseeing. This year's picnic is imminent and we spent some time in he city finalizing arrangements for the kids. We also visited the general hospital which is the only full service, referral hospital for 5 million (yes, 5,000,000) people in Gojam. We recently received a donation of 21 hospital beds and had to make arrangements for their delivery by container later in the spring. Then we were off to Adet for a second visit to an amazing project.

Ato (Mr.) Desta Moges is a recently retired civil servant and the head of the project we were to visit in Adet, an hour or so out of Bahir Dar. On retirement last year, Desta turned his house and compound into an orphanage and kindergarten. There are 30 street kid/orphans living in the sheds erected in his housing compound and another 63 kids attend, free of charge, the kindergarten he has started for destitute town kids. Ten of the kids in the kindergarten are also orphans who live with extended family members in the town. The kindergarten classes are held in Desta's former home which also serves as an office for the charity he has registered and who would be our 'partner' in any joint venture. The teachers in the kindergarten are retired or younger volunteers and are paid less than $20 a month. Like Desta they are all caring individuals who are making great sacrifices to assist the people in the town where they grew up.

Funding for the project to date has come entirely from Desta's savings and pension and from one of his sons who works in Addis Ababa and who has contributed approximately $10,000 to date.

It didn't take Yehalem, our Country Representative, and I long to decide that Desta's organization fit the Partners' bill. It was an indigenous charity where the community itself had taken charge and was doing good work with virtually no overhead. A committee, headed by Desta, and with representatives of the various government services in Adet makes all key decisions relating to the Project and has been able to arrange such things as free health services and waiver of school registration fees for the orphan kids and to assist in the selection of destitute street kids. The community had, in fact, taken the lead and now needed assistance to carry on. When a community commits itself...as Desta and his friends had...to support a project with their own meagre funds and labour, that is a sure sign of a real need and of the kind of continuing support which any successful project must have. Our visit to Adet also confirmed the desperate situation of the street kids. They told us that prior to the project they picked up a few cents each day acting as porters at the local bus station but relied on begging scraps from local restaurants and bars to live on. Now those kids have their own beds, are enrolled in school and, for the first time, have some hope for the future. Partners will be helping Desta.

Then it was off to Finote Selam, a thriving community south of Bahir Dar and famous for it's ability to grow almost any crop in its balmy climate. The big problem in the area is a lack of bridges...a need which requires some explanation. In Ethiopia and most of sub-Saharan Africa 85% of the population live “off road” a term used to indicate that people live neither in towns nor cities but in extended family clusters, usually miles from the nearest center. Town centers must be accessed regularly for three basic reasons: for access to open air markets one or two days a week where virtually all rural commerce is transacted: for medical centers where the sick must be attended to and, lastly, for schools. Africans, and Ethiopians in particular, are great walkers and a 4-5 kilometre hike to town presents no problems .....except in the three month rainy season, when small stream become raging torrents that make crossing impossible. When the rivers can't be crossed there is no access to markets, health care or school. And, inevitably, there are drownings when rising rivers are forded. It is common for 5,000 to 10,000 people to cross a river on a market day so that an impassable river denies basic and essential services for thousands of people for three months each year.

Partners in the Horn of Africa is getting good at building footbridges. (There is no need for vehicle bridges in rural areas for villagers who can't begin to think of buying a car and Ethiopia's per capita income is less than $150 per year). We build bridges in 6 meter sections prefabricated in an urban area and then transferred to the stream side where they are welded together. The bridges are 1.5 metres in width, wide enough for a fully loaded donkey but just narrow enough to make sure vehicles, which require far greater support, are not tempted to cross) Local residents provide rocks for the concrete foundations used as anchors on either side of the river and eucalyptus for scaffolding when the bridge is being erected.

I have attached a picture of the crossing of a proposed bridge site near Finote Selam. This picture was taken when the river was at its lowest level. Two months before this picture was taken the waters level would have been over waist level and moving quickly.. The picture of the elderly lady crossing the stream was taken after the water levels had largely receded and yet we were nervous for her with each step she took. at a site where many have been swept downriver to their deaths. Residents told us of walking for a full day to arrive at the river when it was too high to ford and showed us the tree under which they slept for days waiting for the water level to drop. An inconvenience when you're going to market; a matter of life and death if you are transporting a child with malaria to the local Health Clinic.

We have commissioned the building of at least one bridge near Finote Selam. It will cost us somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 (competitive bids are now being sought). It will last for years and save many lives in the process. It will also allow many more kids to complete their education. Interestingly, one of the main proponents of the bridge we are building is an opthomologist who was able to complete his studies only because he had an aunt “on the other side of the river” where his parents sent him to attend school. Imagine if Canadian kids had to move to a relative's home to attend school or risk their lives getting there each day and knowing that, even if they could get their some days, they would still miss a month or two of school each year.

The bridge near Finote Selam will save lives and improve education for many, many children. This will be Partners' 8th bridge. It won't be our last.

My next report will be from the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia's central region. We are going there to inaugurate a new school, check on the progress of another bridge and 10 sets of school latrines and commence a project fabricating and distributing washable sanitary pads to 4,000 school girls.