Mike Gesker expresses his thanks to members of a community he visited in Kersa Woreda in eastern Ethiopia for the hospitality they showed him during his visit. Standing next to Mike, wearing the white hat, is Zemede Abebe of the Hararghe Catholic Secretariat, a key CRS partner. Photo by Matt McCann/CRS.
During a recent two-week trip to Ethiopia, a fresh revelation about the abundance of our blessings in the United States flashed down from the heavens like a thunderbolt thrust down by the sinewy arm of Zeus. This is not the time or place to speculate on the millions that formidable Greek god would be making if he were a southpaw. George Steinbrenner would have him under contract before you could say Mount Olympus.
We were roaming the landscape around Dire Dawa and visiting water projects that are having a profound effect on the lives of poor farmers in the region. Thanks to the efforts of Catholic Relief Services and our Ethiopian partner, the Hararghe Catholic Secretariat, people now have food supplies that last longer than half a year. Incomes are rising. And the future looks brighter for many of the people we met. Hardworking farmers there can now enjoy three meals a day and send their children to school.
The weather was hotter than the blazes, but the wonderful staff of the Hararghe Catholic Secretariat kept us well within reach of water with all the zeal of Gunga Din. We stopped along the rugged, rocky road for a noontime meal and our lunches and cold water were packed in ice.
The top of my bald pate had been sun-scorched for days so I took advantage of the situation and grabbed one of the chunks of ice which were wrapped in plastic bags. The sensation of rubbing the mini-iceberg over my head was a treat fit for the gods.
We started driving again and I kept the handy chunk of the North Pole on my scalp as we continued to bounce along to our next destination. Our outstanding video crew stopped ahead to take footage of another CRS success story. As we paused, a group of children and their mother walked by, looking at us curiously.
It was obvious they had been walking some distance and were enduring the same overwhelming heat we were. The difference, of course, was that within minutes we could hop into our Toyota Land Cruisers and they would still be walking the rough terrain of rural and mountainous Ethiopia.
By now the piece of ice had been reduced from the size of a large Polish sausage to that of a small pickle. I took it out of the plastic bag and presented it to the children. Much to my amazement they were afraid of it (or me). It dawned on me that they had never seen ice before. After some coaxing and some translation by one of the HCS staff, the mother finally grasped the ice in her hands and smiled quite beautifully. She shared the chill with her children.
Mike with a calf at a water source for livestock. Photo by Matt McCann/CRS.
I would never be so bold as to compare myself to Prometheus. Those darn Greek gods and their chiseled features leave me far behind. I was the one taught the lesson about taking things for granted. Everyone in the world can’t run down to the local 7-11 for a bag of ice, a Slurpee or a chili dog. For too many millions of people in the poorest corners of the globe, clean water is a luxury. Too many impoverished women and children travel far too far for basic necessities that we take for granted. For them as for us, water is life. Ice is the stuff of myth.
Mike Gesker, a CRS writer in Direct Response Fundraising, recently traveled to Ethiopia to write video scripts for Charles Osgood and the CRS Capital Campaign.
Posted
July 20th, 2007 in
Africa, Ethiopia by:
jrivera |
1 Comment »
A group of villagers working on soil bunding, near Harar. Photo by CRS staff.
As Congress develops the 2007 Farm Bill over the next few months, it has the opportunity to make sure that U.S. global food aid programs feed more people, helping them to be less vulnerable to emergencies and — ultimately — rise out of poverty.
Catholics and other people of good will throughout the United States are advocating for 2007 Farm Bill policies that further reduce hunger and poverty both in the United States and abroad. The 2007 Farm Bill will govern U.S. agricultural policy at home and abroad for the next five years and is the main vehicle that structures U.S. Food Aid programs. As a part of a broad Catholic effort to address a range of concerns about the Farm Bill, Catholic Relief Services is
calling for Congress to change policies that have driven down the food available for assistance, ultimately leading to cuts in important hunger programs worldwide.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one country where much of CRS’ work is focused on food security. Here is a snapshot of some programming in Ethiopia to highlight the importance of food aid around the world.
CRS Ethiopia has been supporting relief and development in Ethiopia since 1958. In Ethiopia, drought and poor land quality often spell agricultural disaster for people trying to earn a meager livelihood from herding and farming among the country’s deforested hillsides. While the distribution of U.S. food aid helps people make it through food emergencies, it is development programs such as those funded by the U.S. Title II Food for Peace program that help communities escape hunger altogether.
Food for Work is an activity supported by U.S. Title II funding. People receive food supplies for the work they contribute to programs that help their communities develop. In the steep rolling hillsides that surround Legedini village in the Diocese of Harar, for example, village residents built by hand many of the low stone walls that climb the terraced hillsides. They were paid for their labor by U.S. Title II food aid.
Terraced hillside outside of Dira Dawa. Photo by CRS staff.
Once the site of regular erosion, the now terraced hillsides are part of a soil- management approach called “soil bunding.” The terraces catch fertile soil as it washes from the top of the hills, providing richer soil in which to grow crops and animal feed. It is just one part of a large integrated program that bring numerous villages together to create better farmland, cleaner water sources, better community health practices and more lucrative markets for their crops.
Committees of villagers who live in a watershed district are involved in each phase of the program, which tackles the root causes of ill health, hunger and poverty in these Ethiopian communities. Managed by CRS and its partner, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, these integrated development programs run five years. When finished, the resulting water and agricultural projects, community health efforts and economic development programs are run and managed entirely by the communities that helped develop them, and which continue to benefit from them.
Currently in Ethiopia, the Development Assistance Program aims at addressing the root causes of poverty with a strategy based on watershed management, which looks to integrate other activities including: agriculture; natural-resource management; health and nutrition; and water and sanitation. Directly, this program serves more than 178,000 participants, while benefiting more than 890,000 people.
As CRS works on the Farm Bill in upcoming months, we will be calling upon our network of supporters to contact their elected officials to help shape a Farm Bill that best serves the needs of the poor overseas.
Things You Can Do
Sign up for CRS’ Legislative Network to receive information and for opportunities to take action on this and other pressing global issues.
• Sign up for the network here: http://actioncenter.crs.org/signup.
• Learn, discuss and pray about global issues that affect the poor and how our advocacy efforts can make a difference. Visit our website http://advocacy.crs.org for educational, action and prayer resources.
• Share this educational resource with your family, friends and fellow parishioners
Posted
July 11th, 2007 in
Africa, Ethiopia, Farm Bill, Food Aid, Foreign Aid by:
jrivera |
1 Comment »
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