Aid in Action

Food for Peace Interventions in Ethiopia

By providing communal watering ponds, FFP has freed villagers from the daily grind of searching for water for their livestock.

 | Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Woizero Letekidan lives in Feresmai, Aherfom Wared and heads a family of three children. In the past she has spent between one and two hours a day looking for water for her small herd of animals, her main source of food and income. There was little time left to spend on other activities which could help generate an income for her family.

The newly constructed communal livestock watering ponds near her home have changed all this. Instead of spending her days searching for water, she now has time to work in her backyard poultry. She also has more time to tend her animals as well as take part in the safety net public works which provide benefits by way of food and establishment of important communal assets. Woizero now boasts that while she works hard, she is coping much better with providing food for her family on a continual basis. She is confident of having employment for most of the year and of earning extra income which helps to send her children to school and to provide for other household necessities.