Farmer Thomas Dansa has seen his crops and income grow dramatically thanks to irrigation. Picture: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund
Farmer Thomas Dansa stands out as a beacon of hope in the current Ethiopian food crisis.
Thanks to the local church, the 35-year-old’s land has been transformed and so has his life.
The miracle drug is nothing stronger than water but in a drought it’s more precious than gold.
Tearfund partner, the Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church, came to Thomas’ village of Matala Hembecho Gadala in Boloso Sore District with a plan in 2003.
The government had built an irrigation system but hadn’t explained to people how it could be used, so it lay idle, a white elephant in the Ethiopian countryside.
Scepticism
Church leaders saw the potential of the canal system, which taps into a local river, to ensure year-round irrigation for the surrounding farmland.
They set about meeting villagers and explaining the benefits and after initial scepticism, the system was put to work.
For Thomas and his 10-strong family, the results have been dramatic as he now grows maize, sweet potato, haricot beans and tomatoes all year round.
This has not only produced enough food for his family to eat but generated income. A lot of income.
Diverting river water means Thomas can grow crops year round. Picture: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund
Previously he was making 4,000 birr a year (£200) but now it’s 24,000 birr a year (£1,200).
Thomas said, `The church came in and organised the community and showed people how to use water and enable it to reach their plots.
`As I produce harvests twice a year, we have no food insecurity problems. I praise God for that.
`It’s a significant change in the way we live and in community life as a whole.’
Tin roofs
Yohannes Kampeso, chairman of the Matala water users' committee, testifies to the importance of the scheme among the 76 households that benefit from it.
`This year our problems have not been so severe because we have been able to produce food all year round,’ he said.
`Livelihoods have been improving and you can see the changes in people’s homes with them switching from thatched to iron roofs.
`Had the project not come here and created the change of mindset, people would have remained as they were five years ago, not that productive and dependent on relief aid.’
Workers building a new stretch of the Waja river irrigation scheme. Picture: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund
Not far away is another scheme, the Waja river irrigation canal. Built in 2006 at a cost of 1.5 million birr (£75,000) by the Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church, it extends for a mile and a half and feeds the land of 250 households.
More than a thousand people are benefiting from the production of sweet potato, onion, tomatoes, egg plants, cabbage, spinach, chillies and cassava.
A new 600 metre long section is currently being built at a cost of £5,000 to bring food security to more households.
It’s all come about working with the community, explained Andreas Belete, general secretary of the Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church.
`This scheme is easy for people to understand in terms of the benefits it will bring. It’s like one plus one,’ he said.
`Some have said “God sent the gospel for our spiritual life and this water is for our physical needs. This is life for us”.’