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STORY: ETHIOPIA / DROUGHT
TRT: 2:36
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / AMHARIC / BORENA OROMIFFA
DATELINE: 5 AUGUST 2011, ETHIOPIA
1. Wide shot, huts in xx village, Melbana District, Borena Zone
2. Med shot, woman and children walking in front of huts
3. Med shot, elderly Borena woman walking among huts
4. Med shot, water truck driving through dusty landscape past villagers
5. Med shot, from under truck: people filling jerry cans
6. Med shot, filling jerry cans with water
7. Med shot, low angle, women filling jerry cans
8. SOUNDBITE (Amharic) Abiot Kassa, head of the Water Mineral Resources and Energy Desk at Mio District:
“ Due to the severity of the drought we have to distribute water by water truck. The community, especially women, are suffering a great deal. Elderly women, pregnant women – they are in bad shape, as you can see, and children as well.”
9. Wide shot, dry barren landscape
10. Med shot, cattle through brush
11.Med shot, cattle on dry road
12. SOUNDBITE (Borena Oromiffa) Godana Wario, Mother of seven:
“In the past our livelihoods were based on our cattle. Now we have lost all those cattle. We no longer have a means of making a living. We are in deep trouble.”
13. Med shot, nurse entering hut
14. Med shot, Nurse measuring child
15. Close up, measuring child’s arm
16. Med shot, nurse talking to mother
17. Med shot, mother feeding child
18. Med shot, nurse and Godana speaking
19. Med shot, child on mother’s arm
20. Close up, child drinking from cup
21. Med shot, Kurfa pouring water
22. Med shot, Kurfa Wario is grateful for the ongoing delivery water
23. SOUNDBITE (Borena Oromiffa) Kurfa Wario:
“If the water truck did not come we would have to move from here, that is how bad things are. As long as the truck brings us water, we will survive on that.”
23. Wide shot, people walking on dusty road
24. Med shot, women and children sitting by side of road
25. Med shot, woman’s face by side of road
26. Wide shot, truck arriving in distance
For over two years, Melbena Village in the Borena Zone along the Kenyan border in southern Ethiopia has received no decent rainfall. The impact has been devastating for the largely pastoral community.
Over the past nine months the arrival of a water truck has been the only source of water and provides an essential life-line for the inhabitants of this village.
UNICEF, together with the Borena Zone Emergency Coordination Taskforce supports this crucial water trucking which every three days delivers 16 cubic meters of water to around 500 households here.
SOUNDBITE (Amharic) Abiot Kassa head of the Water Mineral Resources and Energy Desk at Mio District:
“Due to the severity of the drought we have to distribute water by water truck. The community, especially women, are suffering a great deal. Elderly women, pregnant women – they are in bad shape, as you can see and children as well.”
But with little rain in the forecast, the implications of the continuing drought are dire. With no water and no grass growing, people are losing their cattle, their main source of livelihood.
SOUNDBITE (Borena Oromiffa), Godana Wario, mother of seven children:
“In the past our livelihoods were based on our cattle. Now we have lost all those cattle. We no longer have a means of making a living. We are in deep trouble.”
The drought has also caused other serious problems. In the absence of cow’s milk, Godana’s two-year-old son Roba became severely malnourished. He was treated at the Melbena Health Center where he received care through the UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic feeding programme (OTP).
He is now recovering and no longer malnourished.
To prevent any future malnutrition, nurse Abdelnasser now checks up on him regularly and counsels Godana on how she can better feed her seven children, store her water safely, boil the water before drinking or use water purification tablets to prevent diarrhoea, which can be deadly for a malnourished child.
Kurfa Wario is grateful for the ongoing delivery water.
SOUNDBITE ((Borena Oromiffa) Kurfa Wario:
“If the water truck did not come we would have to move from here, that is how bad things are. As long as the truck brings us water, we will survive on that.”
UNICEF and partners are supporting the Government of Ethiopia to respond to the immediate needs of drought-affected communities including in Borena. Pastoralist communities like in Borena will need to be supported to recover from the drought, build resilience and diversify their livelihoods.
