Inquiry Leads to Clean Water in Ethiopia

This past March I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Ethiopia with my family. My husband, Mark, works for a non-profit called Food for the Hungry (FH). If you live in Abbotsford, you may recognize that name as having worked together with Run for Water to raise money for wells in rural Ethiopia (an area called Sasiga). We headed to the Sasiga area to gather film footage, but most importantly, to celebrate the graduation of this community. I had heard through Mark about communities graduating, but until I was there, I didn’t really understand what that meant. As I walked through the village, met the people, and saw the farms and school in action, I began to see the answer. 

Making friends in Sasiga

Ten years ago, the people of Sasiga were stuck in poverty. However, they are strong and motivated so when FH began to partner with them - using local teachers, businesses, and resources - to build skills and awareness, the community began to thrive. This kind of transformation takes time, which is why FH’s model involves a ten-year plan. We know that changing our way of thinking is a daunting task, but that’s exactly what happens in a community like Sasiga. The people began to see that the future - which they had doubted for so long - was in their hands and that they now had the skills to take control of their own lives. 

Meeting Worku, a fellow teacher

Creating opportunities for people to access clean drinking water was a key element to helping this community become healthy. The money raised by Run for Water was instrumental in giving the people the materials and the skills to create and maintain wells throughout the community. My son Nial and I had the opportunity to try out one of the wells, and what a difference! The water from the local stream - previously used for drinking water - was filthy and contaminated. The water we had pouring out at our fingertips was clean!

Run for Water in action!

As we traveled through the village, I saw first hand the proud farmer working his lush fields (he had engineered a watering system from a small nearby creek, which involved hours of labor) - and was fortunate to sample his fresh papaya and bananas...right off the tree! I saw the groups of children running through the fields - healthy and happy, eager to play at any game. Where once students often missed school because of waterborne illnesses or helping at home, I now saw the crowds of school children walking to school, desperate to learn. I also heard them shyly trying out their fledgling English skills with me as we walked through the market (with plenty of giggling on their part, you can be sure!). I saw mothers waiting their turn at the well, knowing their walk back home with clean water would be one of minutes, not hours. 

Wheeeeee!

As I saw all of this, I asked our guide, Samson, when FH knew that a community was ready to graduate. His answer struck home to the teacher in me. He said a community is ready to graduate when they are able to see a problem and figure out a solution. When that happens, they are no longer dependent on outside aid, but are self-sufficient. The community, working together, can now take care of its own. The people in this picture are demonstrating exactly what that looks like. Their small collection of homes was far from the community well that Nial and I tried out. They were inspired, though, by having watched the other wells being created, and so decided to make their own! The people in this picture worked together to create a solution. We were fortunate to arrive just as the men were putting the finishing touches on this homemade well - one that had been dug by hand and went 19 metres down! 

Legesse and Zeneba, thrilled with their clean water!

The ability to examine a problem, search for solutions, and then implement them? An attitude of success - a growth mindset? All of this sounds so much like what we as educators strive to instill in our students. We speak of inquiry as an educational model, with one of its key tenets being applicability to real life. In Sasiga, I witnessed exactly that, in myriad ways, across all ages and genders. Perhaps inquiry is more difficult for us in the Western world as there is less riding on our ability to think for ourselves. We don’t have to be motivated by survival, as we have been bred to believe that there will always be a safety net. If that is the case, then we need to find a different reason to motivate us to seek and question and wonder about the world around us. That is the challenge of education and the reason why Run for Water and Food for the Hungry make such a difference in the world.