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Ethiopia: real lives   No matter how hard Alemayehu worked in his fields, it seemed that his life boiled down to a struggle for survival and a dependence on emergency aid. In Borchota, Ethiopia, where Alemayehu and his family live, rainfall is erratic and drought and famine are commonplace-almost an annual event. During times of crop failure, his family relied on ChildFund Australia's affiliate organisation in Ethiopia for water and emergency food. But these days, Alemayehu is keeping his family self-sufficient, and his crops thriving, through water harvesting. ChildFund in Ethiopia began the program after the 2002 drought as part of a long-range plan to offer more permanent solutions to recurring drought and famine. The program reaches those who depend upon rain-fed agriculture in drought-prone regions. The technology involves collecting runoff water during the major rainy season, which later provides supplementary irrigation and drinking water during the dry months.
Communities capture the water through neighourhood cisterns or
underground reservoirs. The water is then piped to fields through
a drip irrigation system, which deposits a precise amount of
water at each plant. One cistern can provide enough water to
carry 20 households through four consecutive dry months. As a result of the program, Alemayehu is now successfully harvesting a variety of fruits and vegetables at least twice a year. He is confident that his family's household income and nutritional status will continue to improve without emergency assistance.
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