Reflections on Returning

I leave tomorrow to go back to Ethiopia!  As I’m sitting here on my bed tonight, looking at my packed bags and wondering if I’ve left anything out, I can’t help but think back to last summer and my journey to Ethiopia.  It’s a completely different thing this time around.  I am once again traveling alone to Ethiopia to work for Water is Life, even carrying the same luggage sure, but so much has changed.  It’s an entirely different thing to return to a country that I’ve grown to love, where I know the taste of the food, and where I have warm friends and colleagues I am eager to see again.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not”.  I know from being in Ethiopia last summer that in the next six weeks I am going to see many beautiful things.  I’m going to learn names, hear stories, share meals with families, and tread paths I’ve never before laid eyes on.  I’m excited to no end for this journey and so thankful to be a part of this work!  I know that much of my responsibility in this is to share with you the things I see and experience while in Ethiopia: the things that are beautiful and that are heart wrenching, that are awe-inspiring and disturbing, and that are hopeful and miraculous.

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells his disciples that they are blessed for having seen and heard the things that they had.  Jesus tells them that so many before them longed to see and hear what the disciples got to experience by walking with Him.  As someone who has traveled to Ethiopia and is now returning, I feel this same privilege and know that I am blessed by what I will see and hear in the coming weeks.  I hope that through the work I am doing I will also be a blessing to those we at WiLi are serving, and I am eager to work hard in the coming weeks for this purpose.

Please pray that my journey would be fruitful, and that God would continue to bring hope and life-giving water and health through the work we are doing!  Folks, next blog will be coming from Ethiopia :)

Just one teensy tiny thing I'm excited about...Ethiopian coffee!

Sustainable Living Groups: What and Why

Last summer I spent ten weeks in Ethiopia conducting a project with WiLi, which is very much the back story to my current position and the work we are doing now.  Last summer came about through a requirement for my own graduate studies, and through a God-given connection with the Hardings and WiLi.  Throughout my graduate studies I focused on Water Resource Management and always hoped to conduct my summer practicum with a “Christian NGO working in East Africa with water issues”…sounds like WiLi to me!  For the ten weeks that I was in Ethiopia last summer I conducted an evaluation of the Sustainable Living Groups (SLGs) that WiLi works with to determine their effect on individual women’s sanitation behaviors.

Monitoring and evaluation is a really important part of any development project because it produces learning and ensures that we as development practitioners are avoiding harm and doing the most good that we can for the people that we are serving.  In the case of WiLi, David and I discussed extensively before last summer the need to evaluate the SLGs because this is a new area of focus for WiLi and much was still unknown about the way the SLGs function and what effect they are having.  SLGs are groups of about 15 to 20 individuals, mostly women, who meet together weekly and function as fellowship groups, savings organizations, and conduct different activities in their communities.  WiLi partners with Kale Heywot Church, who facilitates the formation of these groups, to provide water and sanitation services to the SLGs and their communities.  Going in to last summer my objectives were to understand the way the SLGs are organized and function, to determine the effect of SLGs on individual women’s personal sanitation behaviors, and to conduct a successful evaluation that could be continued in the future by WiLi.

Members of an SLG outside of Awassa

Through the evaluation last summer I learned a lot about the SLGs and the way they work and the how they affect women’s lives.  Now, without boring you too much because I can really get on a roll here, I want to share with you the key findings from my project last summer.  Some of the key discoveries and summary statistics from the evaluation project last summer are:

• Membership in an SLG provides financial, social, and human capital benefits

• Less than one third of survey participants treat their drinking water, and approximately 50% had use of an improved latrine

• SLG members are more likely than non members to wash their hands with soap

• SLG members have higher levels of access, social norms, and beliefs and attitudes in regards to sanitation behaviors

• Cost is still a significant barrier to individuals having a handwashing station and improved latrine in the household

Administering a survey in Awassa

If you have some time and you’d be interested in reading more in depth about the work I did last summer, the methodologies I used, and a lengthy discussion of these results feel free to check out the full report here!

This evaluation project was important for us because it gives us a base of understanding about the SLGs that we can build on with our current projects!  We have seen firsthand the effectiveness of the SLGs; for the first time women are able to afford their children’s school fees, some women have started small businesses selling cooking supplies or smallstock, and women are able to flourish through the love and support of their SLG.  We believe that by partnering with the local church and working directly with SLGs this will be an effective avenue to introduce water and sanitation services that will benefit not just individuals, but also entire families and communities.  We believe in this model and we are excited to begin expanding the work that we are currently doing with SLGs.

What's New with WiLi!

It has been a long silence…but our new blog is up and running!  Whether you are new to WiLi, or know us well, we are glad that you’re stopping by our blog.  We hope you’ll continue to take the time to check-up on this blog and hear the stories of the adventures of our team and the work that we are doing in Ethiopia to facilitate the provision of water and sanitation services! 

Now for the update…WE’VE BEEN BUSY!  Since mid-June David and Merrie Harding, the founders of WiLi, and their daughter Merrie Grace have been in Ethiopia.  The Hardings will be in Ethiopia until the beginning of August and so far much has happened during their time in country!  The Hardings have visited many communities in our project areas in southern Ethiopia to inspect wells, build relationships with community members and officials, and to assess new areas of need.  David and Merrie have also had the opportunity to conduct important meetings with our in-country partners as we move forward with our Sustainable Living Group initiative.  To see pictures and videos from the Harding’s trip this past month please check out the WiLi facebook page here.

At the end of this month I will be heading to Ethiopia for 5 weeks to focus on the continued development of our Sustainable Living Group initiative.  Who am I you ask?  I’m Stephenie Chatfield, the newest member of the WiLi team!  As a part of my graduate studies I spent last summer working with WiLi and living in Awassa conducting an evaluation of Sustainable Living Groups (SLGs).  I am very excited to join the WiLi staff as Water and Sanitation Coordinator and to continue working with the SLGs!  Here are a few pictures from my time with WiLi last summer…stories coming in my next blog :)

Visiting a WiLi well in Borena in southern Ethiopia

Conducting a training with survey enumerators in Awassa

Meeting with an SLG in Awassa

I want to use this space as a place to keep you updated on what WiLi is doing abroad in Ethiopia and with our partners in the U.S., to share with you some of my personal stories and experiences related to our work, and to share with you the details of our passion for global water and sanitation issues.  Please subscribe and come back often, we’d love to get your feedback!

Stephenie.Chatfield@WaterIsLifeInternational.org | 904.553.7881