charity: water
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$ 4,000 at Gasi spring.


Story written in 2008. See more recent stories from Ethiopia on our blog here >

It doesn’t look at all like a spring, but it is. Currently it’s a mud pit, visibly contaminated by human feet and animal feces. But at the eye of Gasi spring, for only a split second before mixing with the muck, the water comes out of the ground clean and clear. Pristine.
Yet instead of getting at that pristine water, the women and children of Gasi huddle with yellow and blue Jerry Cans to gather the deadly mix of contaminated water you see here.


But not for much longer.


The good news is, right now, something is being done to help the people here at Gasi Spring. And it only took $4,000 to change 500 lives  - about $8 a person. The solution here isn’t a freshwater well, but instead a spring protection system. A concrete box will gather and protect Gasi’s pure water, then pipe it to a nearby water point where the women and children will collect it from taps.

 

This is not an appeal for money, but rather a heartfelt thank you for making new water projects like Gasi possible. Through both large and small donations, you’ve allowed us to make a real impact now in 10 countries.
You didn’t have to read our emails, you didn’t have to look at photos or videos. And you didn’t have to help. But you did.

Thank you for caring. Thank you for helping.


* * *


charity: water funded 290 clean water projects in Ethiopia through A Glimmer of Hope in 2008. Most are freshwater wells, and a few are spring protections like the one at Gasi. These projects serve more than 138,000 people with clean water. That's perhaps a drop in the bucket here, where almost 45 million lack clean water, but radically important and life-changing to those 138,000 people.


Click through the above photos; you’ll be able to see both the great need here, and the great progress being made. There is truly nothing better than photographing women and children drinking clean and safe water -- many for the first time.

- Scott Harrison

 
 

  Our partner in Ethiopia is A Glimmer of Hope Foundation.  Find out more about AGOH’s work in Ethiopia.