"The hand pump is our heart": Creating a future for women and girls in Ethiopia

07 March 2013

Photo: Kidan Desta with the hand pump that has given her a childhood and education

By Samrawit Sintayehu, Farm Africa's Communications Officer in Ethiopia

In a remote district of one of the driest places in the country, a young Ethiopian girl points shyly at a water pump which, she says, is nothing short of a lifeline.

“This hand pump is our heart. If something happened to it all the girls in our village would have to drop out of school and instead walk six to seven hours every day to the nearest water point.”

As she plays in a dusty corner of her village, it’s hard to see how 12-year-old Kidan Desta can remain so optimistic about her future.

Life for women here is incredibly hard. Most have no choice but to balance looking after their children with a daunting daily routine of household chores. A typical day can involve walking huge distances under a blazing sun to fetch water, before working in the fields to grow what little food is possible on the treeless and barren plains. 

Economic dependence

But despite working so hard to look after their families, most women in Tigray remain economically dependent on the men in the region, with little prospect in the immediate future of being able to change their fortunes.

Their day starts early. Girls of Kidan’s age are expected to spend up to seven hours a day walking to the nearest water point. Families throughout the region are faced with an unenviable choice of sending a daughter to school, or getting her to make the daily trek for water to keep the family alive. In this tough and barren environment sending a daughter to school seems an unimaginable luxury.

Which is why Kidan is so grateful for Farm Africa building a well in her village. She tells me: “Since I am the eldest child and the only female with a lot of responsibilities in the family, how can I attend my school if Farm Africa did not build this water point? You see, I like Farm Africa because it makes my life painless.”

Childhood and education

I look at the well again and am amazed that something that seems so simple has given Kidan and her friends the sort of childhood and education that most girls in Tigray can only dream of.

With her time freed up to go to school, Kidan has been able to learn to read and write in both Amharic and English and has also enjoyed classes in art, music, social sciences and PE.

Kidan and her friends can now begin to plan a life with more opportunities to develop and flourish than were available to their mothers.

And as I marvel at how one well can change a girl’s life forever, I wonder how many more girls’ lives it could change in Tigray.

Read more about our work supporting women in remote rural communities in Ethiopia. 

More about our projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya supporting women farmers’ new collective pineapples, mangoes, maize and seaweed businesses.

View our photo gallery of women we’re working with across eastern Africa.