ETHIOPIA / WATER

Six districts of Tigray and a further 72 in the rest of Ethiopia are currently being targeted by UNICEF, the European Union and the government in a more than $30 million programme aimed at bringing water and sanitation to a million people in the five years leading up to 2011. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:57
• Production Date: 1 October 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: WATER
• Geographic Subject: ETHIOPIA
• MAMS Id: U101001e

Description

STORY: ETHIOPIA / WATER
TRT: 1.57
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: TIGRINYA / NATS

DATELINE: APRIL 2010, TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA

Shotlist

1. Various shots, Tigray landscape
2. Wide shot, woman begs under tree at church
3. Various shots, priest inside church
4. Various shots, livestock at well
5. SOUNDBITE (Tigrinya) Aynalem Assefa, Epidemiologist:
”The main reason for the epidemic of thyphoid is the use of unsafe water,
contaminated water. If people have to walk long distances to reach safe water they prefer to take water from a nearby unprotected source, sources that are close to their homes.”
6. Close up, medicines
7. Various shots, woman collecting water from well
8. Various shots, woman and child walking with a donkey carrying water bidons
8. Various shots, man collecting water from well
9. Various shots, people work fields
10. Various shots, village life

Storyline

Two thousand years ago, trees covered these slopes. Rivers fed rich valleys. The Prophet Mohammed took refuge in northern Ethiopia.

Emperors built palaces and monuments. Tigray was a powerhouse in the cradle of Christianity.

Humans sapped the landscape until it turned to dust. Now the unreliable rains of climate change are adding to a sanitary time bomb.

Water sources are scarce and have to serve both humans and animals.

Epidemiologist Aynalem Assefa visits remote clinics to chart the health impact of the water crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Tigrinya) Aynalem Assefa, Epidemiologist:
The main reason for the epidemic of thyphoid is the use of unsafe water,
contaminated water. If people have to walk long distances to reach safe water they prefer to take water from a nearby unprotected source, sources that are close to their homes.

Letay Gebregiorgis used to have to get up before daybreak and brave the hyenas with her donkey to collect water from a river that was sometimes polluted.

But recently, under a European Union partnership with UNICEF and the Ethiopian government, a broken well was rehabilitated. It is one of many that are being repaired across the country.

It is just 15 minutes’ walk from her home.

Letay and the other villagers belong to a committee that raises money for the upkeep of the well.

The decline in Tigray started 25 years ago says, and massive terracing and reforestation is needed.

But since 2007 these efforts to rehabilitate and protect water sources have meant that 135,000 villagers in Tigray, now have access to clean water – proof that humans are capable of making amends.