“I just cannot wait to have the water from the nearby tap. When we get clean water, we will live a healthy life”
Wude Balew, 55, Jabi Tehnan District.
Photo: WaterAid
Wude Balew, 55, Jabi Tehnan District.
Photo: WaterAid
Wude Balew, 55, is a mother of eight. She lives in a village called Woynima clinic in the Jabi Tehnan Woreda of Ethiopia.
Wude and her husband Temesgen are farmers just like many people in the area. Coffee is the main crop they grow, and their main source of income which helps them to support their family and send their children to school. As most women, Wude is also the one who takes care of the chores in the house. She cooks, takes care of the house and also looks after the children.
Wude and her girls are also responsible for collecting water from the nearby spring as they don’t have tap water near their house. Having tap water near their house is a dream for Wude and her family as they believe it will change their lives in a good way.
Interview with Wude Balew
My name is Wude Balew. I am 55 years old and I have eight children - 4 boys and 4 girls. My boys are Arefeayne Temesegen, 30; Yamlakfenta Temesgen, 27; Yechalesew Temesgen, 23 and Yekoye Temesgen, 23. My girls are Yenenesh Temesgen, 14; Hodaddis Temesgen, 11; Meseret Temesgen, 8 and Tinsae Temesgen, 4. I live in Woynima Clinic with my husband Temesgen Bayeh and my children.
My husband and I do farm for a living. We have a plot of land on which we mainly grow coffee, millet, teffa grain that is used to make the staple food in Ethiopia which is called Injera], red peppers, sugarcane and mangos.
Meseret, 8, carrying a jerrycan full of water and walking to her parents house which is about 20 minutes from the source.
Photo: WaterAid
Hodaddis, 11, putting coffee beans into a wooden mortar.
Photo: WaterAid
Current water source
We don’t have clean tap water near our house. In our area, women and girls are responsible in collecting water as it is considered part of a household chores. Thanks to God, my girls help me with collecting water.
We fetch water from a spring called Enqurqur. It is not that far from our house - we walk for about 15 minutes to get there. When the girls are home, they use jerrycans to fetch water and we usually use around 12 jerry cans of water per day. They make so many back and forth trips to the spring. Currently we own a donkey and unless we want a small amount of water, we bring the water with the donkey. We fetch 4 jerrycans of water at ones and we go to the spring 3 times a day.
Meseret, 8 years old, helping her mother by carrying water back to the house.
Coffee growing and water
Our family’s main source of income is our farm. We sell the produce we get from our land to support the family and also to send the children to school. It has been around 4 years now since we started using the traditional irrigation system for our farm. We have also started growing coffee since then. However, we only get water from the irrigation once a month.
Coffee is our main produce that we sell at the market to earn some money. Water is very essential for all the crops we grow. It is unimaginable to grow coffee or even any other crop without water.
Wude Balew picking coffee beans from her farm
Clean and safe water
I just cannot wait to have the water from the nearby tap. We have seen the tap being constructed and we all are more than happy. When we get clean water, we will live a healthy life. The water that we get is not safe and as a result the children get sick from waterborne diseases. Besides, my girls won’t be traveling that far to get water, if we have it near our house. The queue at the spring is long and when we have tap water near our house, we won’t be waiting too long to go get and bring water back to our house.
On the other hand, having clean tap water nearby will help us to focus on other works such as taking care of our farm. When we do that, we get good produce and as a result, we will get good money when we sell it. So, having clean water nearby will change our lives.
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