Current Project:
The Beku Golba hand-dug well
We are currently working on the Beku Golba hand-dug well project, 40km North of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Thanks goes to pupils at St Julian's School in Carcavelos, Portugal, who kindly raised £580 towards the cost of this project.
Please visit here over the forthcoming months as we endeavour to update you on Beku Golba project's progress.
Current Beku Golba Situation
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Only 5% of the Beku Golba community has access to safe drinking water
Even these 5% face a 2 hour return trip to access another well, risking attacks from animals and even rape. Some make this trip 2 or 3 times a day. -
95% of the community drinks and washes in contaminated water from streams, ponds and puddles
The same water animals share and often the same water used as a toilet. - this leaves the Beku Golba community easily open to illnesses such as bronchitis, tonsillitis, diarrhoea, eye and respiratory infections as well as the deadly malaria. -
Time spent collecting water denies the community a chance to develop
Children as young as 7 years are responsible for collecting water. If they have to make more than 1 trip a day then they are unable to attend school and their chance of an education drifts by.
With the Beku Golba Well being built close to the village, time saved can be used for education, growing crops, looking after more animals, improving food production levels, or indeed other tasks which aid their development progress.
Beku Golba's Ammenities
The Woreda (Ethiopian term for a large village) has been fortunate to recently have a school, basic health post and a farmers' training centre built there. These amenities aren't brick built as we're used to but instead they are simple wooden and corrugated iron huts. Even so it's great news for Beku Golba.
The amenities mean that the village is attracting more and more users each week and so the Hand-dug well's clean water will bring an even bigger benefit. In our field survey we spoke to all of Beku Golba's 35 households, identifying 175 future users of the well. In addition to this it is estimated that approximately 200 other people use the amenities each week. School children will be able to carry home clean water, after their studying, for both themselves and their family.
Overall it is estimated that around 400 people will benefit from the Beku Golba Hand-dug Well.
Beku Golba Hand-dug Well's Main Costs
| Description | Cost (Eth Birr) | Approx Cost (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Afridive hand pump | 7,500 | 460 |
| The well lining and reinforced ring | 9,050 | 555 |
| Concrete work | 5,465 | 335 |
| Masonry work | 1,375 | 85 |
| Water quality test and disinfection | 300 | 20 |
| Full sanitation and hygiene program | 3,560 | 220 |
| Totals | 27,250 | 1675 |
The Beku Golba Community's Role
As part of the agreement with the community, the community themselves will dig as much of the 15m deep well as is possible, before professionals take over. In addition to this they will be responsible for collecting wood and stone needed for the project's construction. They will also build a minimum of 8 pit-latrines (basic wooden toilet huts). By involving the Community in as many aspects as possible, we really do believe the community is helping itself and will feel extremely proud of its efforts when the project is complete.
Each member of the community will also take part in a full hygiene and sanitation program, so that the local population are fully educated on a range of issues such as water storage, hand washing before eating, and the safe depositing of faeces through the importance of using a pit-latrine. These are all remarkably basic problems that can be solved cheaply and easily through educating the community.
Communication With EOC-DICAC, our Partner Organisation NGO in Ethiopia
The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) that is responsible for the Beku Golba project, EOC-DICAC, have been in regular contact with us and they in turn have been liaising with the Beku Golba community on a whole range of issues. The support structure and plans have been completed and in fact everything is in place awaiting the final funding to be sent to EOC-DICAC in Ethiopia. To find out more about EOC-DICAC and its role with clean water projects please click here.
We really do believe that bringing clean water to Beku Golba can be the catalyst for its development.