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ETHIOPIA / CLIMATE CHANGE
STORY: ETHIOPIA / CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT:3:11
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT, 5 JUNE 2021
LANGUAGE: AMHARIC / NATS
DATELINE: APRIL 2021, GONCHA SISO ENESIE, ETHIOPIA
1.Various shots, Mekonnen Tehone and Terrefe Tsega and the workers building gabions in Ethiopia– stone filled wire cages to protect and restore the gullies.
2.SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder:
"This work is about maintaining the gullies. Primarily we collect and prepare the stones; then we dig the ground, and we do the maintenance by using the gabion."
3. Various shots, Mekonnen Tehone and Terrefe Tsega and the workers building gabions in Ethiopia– stone filled wire cages to protect and restore the gullies.
4.SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Mekonnen Tehone, Gabion builder:
“If COVID occurs in one place it is possible to stop it there, but if members of a community are hungry or thirsty, they may move from place to place to find work. But I am hopeful that COVID will not spread here, if we continue to have work here.”
5.Various shots, farmers in the local fields
6.Various shots, workers building gabions.
7. SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC)Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder:
“The money we earn here has changed our lives. If you ask me how, Firstly, we are now able to buy sheep for the easter festival; secondly, we can now eat eggs as we are rearing chicken and thirdly, we have the capacity to buy clothes for our kids and we are living without a worry”.
8. Med shot, Mekonnen and his family eating in their home.
9. SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder: “The benefit of our work for this community is that our work is saving the environment from soil erosion and the youth from the community is getting employment and earning income to cover expenses.”
10. Various shots, Mekonnen and Terrefe with other gabion workers building gabions.
In the highlands of Ethiopia, fifty young men are working hard to reverse the effects of climate change. They are rebuilding and protecting gullies.
This area used to be a field of crops, but heavy flooding has washed away the soil. Leaving farmers with reduced yields and less food for them to eat and sell. In this region gullies are used to channel the seasonal rain water into managed irrigation, but heavier and persistent rains have led to their erosion.
SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder:
"This work is about maintaining the gullies. Primarily we collect and prepare the stones; then we dig the ground, and we do the maintenance by using the gabion."
The Gabions are stone filled cages, which stop the soil moving, helping farmers in nearby fields to plant crops and keep them.
The building project is not only protecting the land, but the people who work on it.
The men are now earning an income from work funded by the Rural Poor Stimulus Facility set up by the International Fund for Agricultural Development or IFAD to help rural people whose livelihoods are severely impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic.
These men used to have to travel to other areas to find casual work. Getting jobs locally has meant no one has had to leave the village and it has remained COVID free.
SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Mekonnen Tehone, Gabion builder:
“If COVID occurs in one place it is possible to stop it there, but if members of a community are hungry or thirsty, they may move from place to place to find work. But I am hopeful that COVID will not spread here, if we continue to have work here.”
Having regular work has improved their incomes too.
SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder:
“The money we earn here has changed our lives. If you ask me how, Firstly, we are now able to buy sheep for the easter festival; secondly, we can now eat eggs as we are rearing chicken and thirdly, we have the capacity to buy clothes for our kids and we are living without a worry”.
SOUNDBITE (AMHARIC) Terrefe Tsega, Gabion Rebuilder:
“The benefit of our work for this community is that our work is saving the environment from soil erosion and the youth from the community is getting employment and earning income to cover expenses.”
As the world copes with the devastating effects of COVID and climate change, these young men know their work is helping to protect their environment, restore the land and in the process ensure that their community can earn decent incomes from their crops, and feed their families.
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