Water Brings Full Bellies And School Bags

Last Christmas, you helped to fund something extraordinary – our Wells for Women Farmers initiative, in southern Ethiopia. Thanks to your generosity, this project is now transforming hundreds of lives.

The plan was to deliver a reliable water source for collectives of up to ten women farmers, who had previously been reliant on increasingly erratic rainfall to grow their crops. Experience showed this could double or even triple the number of harvests achieved, as well as improving crop quality, delivering a corresponding growth in family income.

The Wells for Women Farmers project is already more than meeting expectations! Thanks to both Big Give funding and a trust grant, we had the money to deliver 13 wells. By September 2025, 10 of the 13 planned wells had been completed, supporting 120 women farmers. And the results have been rapid – with many encouraging stories already emerging.

*Meaza’s Story

*Meaza, a mum-of-two, struggled to support her family, earning less than ETB 60 per day (31p) through her farming efforts. But after joining an irrigation group she began growing green cabbage using water from a new well – and soon discovered this meant she could grow cabbage across the dry season when market demand and prices were higher.

After successfully harvesting 100 crates of cabbage, her group sold each crate at ETB 1,700 (£8.81) and Meaza’s portion was nearly ETB 20,000 (£103) – a previously unimaginable sum. “Before this, I had no idea I could grow food in the dry months,” says Meaza. “Now I’ve even started saving weekly and dreaming of buying a small ox.”

Water Brings Full Bellies and School Bags

Another mum, *Wuletta, told our partners that erratic rains and long dry spells meant her tomatoes would often either dry out or rot before harvest. Her income was erratic – sometimes less than ETB 50 per day (26p) and she struggled to afford school essentials or medical care for her children. However, this year, with access to year-round water, she harvested four cycles of tomatoes in one year. In the last quarter, her group harvested a huge 10,000kg of tomatoes, selling them at ETB25 (13p) per kg, giving Wuletta a share of around ETB 25,083 (£129) – again a previously unimaginable sum.

“Now I can send my children to school with full bellies and school bags,” she says. “I have also saved enough to buy a water tank and build a small iron-roofed house.”

Daily incomes for women farmers in this project, who have had at least one harvest, have risen from mere pence to an average of US$3.77 per day. What a transformation!

What a transformation in just one year!

Head of Operations Steve Wicking visited Ethiopia in September. He said: “It was wonderful to be able to visit several of the women farmers groups  and learn more about the impact of this project. Communities are being changed for the better.  The women can provide their families with a consistent and varied supply of vegetables and salads and sell the surplus. This gives them enough income to send their children to school, buy them shoes and school bags and purchase medicine when they are sick.

One of the really encouraging things I learnt was how the project had provided an alternative for many women who were otherwise going to go abroad to the Middle East to work as housemaids, enabling them to stay at home with their families and work for a better future with dignity.

The economy in Ethiopia is really struggling, with the currency losing about 150% of its value over the last 18 months and many of the men I met are struggling to find regular work. A husband of one of the group members told me that the project has taken some of the pressure off him to provide everything for the family. He told me that “poverty makes conflict, but this project has brought harmony to our household.”

This initiative was funded through a grant from the Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission, and our Big Give Christmas Appeal in 2024. A HUGE thank you goes to everyone who gave.

If you want to help us make a difference again this Christmas, check out our 2025 Christmas Appeal, expanding a successful project supporting street-connected children in Guatemala City. Thank you so much for your support.