Drinking Water: Clean Performance | Foundation Menschen für Menschen Switzerland

Clean performance

Everyone has a right to clean drinking water! In our new project area Hambela Wamena in southern Ethiopia, we are building 16 spring catchments. More than 11,000 people will benefit from this.

Dear reader

The girl Tigist used to have to fetch water for the family before school started at 8 a.m. She would set off before sunrise in her plastic sandals, without breakfast. This work took two hours because the well was so far away. The canisters weigh 20 kilograms: what torture!

Because of this task, Tigist was often late for school - and was punished by the teacher for being late by hitting him on the hand. "It was so unfair!" Tigist remembers. "I was so angry."

Fortunately, that is now over: People for People has built a spring in Tigist's village. There is now safe drinking water near her parents' house. It only takes half an hour to fetch water every day. Tigist is no longer late for school. And she has more time and energy to study: Our springs in the villages ensure educational equality, especially for girls.

Tigist says her dream is to become a teacher. A teacher who treats her students well and supports them. "I want to work for the development of Ethiopia," says Tigist.

Let us support Tigist and all the other girls in Ethiopia together: your donation will provide real prospects for their lives!

Kind regards,

Claudio Capaul and Michael Kesselring
Co-Managing Director

CO-Geschäftsführer Claudio Capaul und Michael Kesselring

Water supply in Abaya: source of relief

Project reports

18. October 2024

A spring catchment not only provides clean drinking water. For 15-year-old Tigist, the new infrastructure also means an end to a daily ordeal. "Finally, I'm not getting hit anymore," she reports.

Spring catchments

The construction of a spring catchment by Menschen für Menschen costs around 3,000 Swiss francs. At least 100 families benefit from each of the water points.

It costs only 30 francs to give a family access to clean water:

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House-trained

Well room: This is what experts call the small underground room in which the water from a spring is collected. The water first flows through a gravel filter. We build these infrastructures on slopes with springs that pour at least 0.1 to 0.2 liters per second. An outlet then continuously supplies people with pure drinking water.

How much do we consume?

In Switzerland alone, 36 litres per person per day flow into the shower tray, 40 litres per person rush down the toilet – this corresponds to the two canisters of water that a family of five in rural Ethiopia usually needs for cooking, washing and drinking.

Grafik: "Vergleich Wasserverbrauch Schweiz und Äthiopien"

Junge trägt Wasserkanister aus dem Fluss

Without Alternative

To drink or not to drink? That is not a question: In our new project area Hambela Wamena, 88 percent of people do not have access to safe drinking water. They have to get their water from streams and other unsafe sources – children in particular become ill as a result.

How much does it cost?

In our project area Hambela Wamena, many families have to carry water from far away - or buy it. Bringing two canisters by motorbike costs one franc - a horrendous sum: for many people, that's a day's wage.

Kostenvergleich für Wasser in Äthiopien und der Schweiz

Kind füllt Wasser vom Fluss in einen Wasserbehälter

Unacceptable!

Contaminated water and resulting diarrheal diseases are the second leading cause of death among children under five in Ethiopia (after respiratory infections).

More than 25,000 children die from it every year.