nitsu mai - is Tigrinya for clean water, and well known in the rural areas as a means to reduce illness
An Intro to the blog: clean water and Tigray
Clean water is something most of us take for granted. Every time we put on a clean shirt, cook a meal, wash our hands, take a drink, walk across a green patch of grass, we are enjoying a luxury of easy access to water. But how often do we think about it? There are 780 million people in the world who think about water everyday. This is the population, over twice that of the US, which lacks access to clean drinking water.
Increasing clean water access can dramatically transform lives. When clean water is limited, its use is prioritized for human consumption. It’s better to use dirty water, tainted with biological and chemical contaminants, for livestock and crops, and save clean water for drinking, cooking and washing. At the most fundamental level introducing clean drinking water reduces illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists access to safe drinking water as a key measure for reducing diarrhea cases, which accounts for 2 million deaths annually. But reducing illness is only the beginning; a healthy person is an empowered person. An adult who is healthy can provide for their family, a child who is healthy can focus in school, an infant who is healthy can grow up strong and well nourished. Providing clean water access closer to homes also decreases collection time. Every day a combined 200 million hours are spent by women collecting water in Africa alone. Consider what could be done with this type of freed time for impoverished families lifting themselves out of cycles of poverty. Clean water access is tied to health, economic, education and gender-equality benefits, which is why halving the portion of population who don’t have access to clean water and sanitation is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Tigray is a culturally rich region of Ethiopia, home to over 4 million people, which has one of the lowest safe water accessibility rates in the world. People here are proud of their history dating back to the Axumite Empire (300 BCE), a rich spiritual tradition punctuated by churches dramatically carved out of cliff faces, and a snow-white honey known only to Tigray made from the nectar of a rare highland flower. The average family size here is 5, and more than 80% of these families live in rural areas, where most work as farmers growing cereals such as wheat, barley, sorghum, maize and tef. Rural Tigrayans live multifaceted lives, raising families, celebrating holidays and socializing on market days, all the while suffering the hardship of limited safe water access.
For the next year I will be living in the capital city of Tigray, Mekelle, working for charity: water alongside charity: water’s biggest implementing partner, the Relief Society of Tigray (REST). As charity: water and REST work to expand safe water access in the region, I plan to document my experiences. I hope this blog will provide insight into the water crisis in Tigray on a humanizing level.