Please support HOPE International Development Agency UK – #CharityTuesday

This week for #CharityTuesday I’m featuring HOPE International Development Agency UK. As you know, I went to Ethiopia a couple of years ago, and so development in Ethiopia is a cause very close to my heart. Please read about the work of HOPE International Development Agency UK and support them in any way you can.

These women in Dorze Bele, Ethiopia set off four times a day to collect water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. When full, their jerry cans weigh 40lbs.

So, what’s the problem?

Water is precious but unfortunately nearly 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. Without clean water, people have to source water from unprotected sources – streams, lakes, ponds – which can lead to disease and sometimes death. As a result, every 90 seconds a child dies from water-related disease which could be prevented if clean, safe water were available. In addition, because in Africa women and girls bear the main responsibility for collecting water, on average they spend three hours a day sourcing water when they otherwise would be at school or working to financially benefit their families. Often these journeys are physically dangerous and in some areas, women and girls risk being attacked.

How does your organisation set out to solve it? What makes your approach unique?

HOPE International Development Agency works in rural, southwest Ethiopia to help communities access clean water. HOPE has been working in that region for nearly 30 years and is presently the only charity there helping the rural poor to break free from extreme poverty.

HOPE has a two-pronged approach to our water projects. Firstly, we provide the technical expertise to cap a nearby spring and using a gravity-led system, lay pipes to a reserviour and then to various wash and water points throughout the village. The community provides much of the labour for the building work. Secondly, HOPE provides health, hygiene and sanitation education to every household in the community. HOPE staff teach the community new behaviours of keeping their family healthy and how to avoid getting ill. In addition, HOPE staff work with women, who in their new free time, have the opportunity to develop income-generating activities to help their families. This is essential when many women in these communities are illiterate and have never had the opportunity to go to school, continually sourcing water for their families.

This woman smiles with joy at a tap that brings clean, safe water just 2 minutes walking from her home. HOPE’s project in her village, Kecho, was completed nine months ago and now her life is transformed. 

One of HOPE’s distinctives is that we are highly relational. Both the technical and the education teams live in the community while the water project is taking place, modelling healthy behaviours and working with community to become sustainable. They establish a Water Committee from members of the community (50% men and 50% women) to ensure everyone has equal access and they also train ten care-takers so that they will locally be able to maintain and repair the water system over time.

Can you give us an example of how you’ve made a difference in an individual life?

Name: Ababo Chodiro

Age: Around 60 (she did not know exactly)

Location: Wabe Shore, Ethiopia

For the whole of her life, Ababo Chodiro, has drank contaminated water from a nearby spring. Often she would get sick from the water and tried to only drink a minimum amount of water. After requesting clean water from the government, Ababo waited five years before the government invited HOPE to implement a project in her village. HOPE started work in April 2014 and handed over the project to the community in June 2015. Now she says the water has a much better taste and she doesn’t feel bad about drinking the water. Ababo hopes that her children will have a much better future now that they have clean water to drink. She stresses the importance for her children to get an education and go to university, a possibility she never had.

What can people do, right now, to help?

Give … watch it increase … and confidently know you are making a difference!

HOPE is participating in a crowdfunding campaign this week (26th Oct – 2 Nov 2015). All donations of £50 and under will be matched by 50%. This makes your donation have greater impact, making today the time to donate!

To do so, follow this link:

https://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/bring-clean-water-to-an-ethiopian-village-of-1729/

As a small charity, you can be assured that HOPE knows exactly where your money is going and is investing it wisely. At present we are raising funds for Kalebo Laka, a community of 1729 people. The project involves: capping 3 nearby springs, digging trenches to the village which is 4.56 km away, installing pipes and building 9 water points, 8 wash basins, 2 water troughs and 207 pit latrines. The budget for this project is £77,000 and HOPE has raised £5,463 thus far. HOPE staff in Ethiopia would like to start this project early in 2016, assuming all funds have been raised, which makes giving today a wise, timely and great idea!

If someone donated £20 today, what would that be able to pay for?

Because of the matched funding campaign, a donation of £20 today would be increased to £30. This donation would provide clean water for one child for life. This is one more child that would not need to source water daily and instead could attend school, increasing the opportunities they – and their family – have for the future.

At present HOPE is working with this community in Dorze Bele. By the end of 2015 these women will have access to clean water and will be able to send their children to school, commit time to income-generating activities and will also experience great gender equality. Most importantly they will have hope.

Clean water brings hope. Help HOPE bring clean water.