Water4 Brings Aid to Ethiopia -- And A Unique Travel Experience

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 18:53

Written by Film Festival Traveler Staff

There are many ways to experience other countries, especially ones such as the east African country of Ethiopia. But one of the best ways to have a fascinating and meaningful travel experience is to go somewhere and do good as well as interact with the people -- and not just the agents to promote tourism.

Since 2008, the Oklahoma-based charity organization, Water4, has traversed the globe to bring water to at-risk, impoverished areas, and to teach and provide employment opportunities through inexpensive pumps and drilling methods. 

One country Water4 has traveled to in recent years has been Ethiopia.

In October of 2009, Water4 deployed a drilling method for procuring water outside of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, in a village called Meshenti, with the Millennium Water Alliance as a pilot project.  

Nestled in north-western Ethiopia, Bahir Dar is the captial of the Amhara Region and is considered a leading tourist destination. Bahir Dar has a variety of attractions -- for example, the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile River -- and is known for its wide avenues with beautiful indigenous flowers.

In 2002 it was awarded UNESCO's Cities for Peace Prize for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.

The city offers a small daily market and a very extensive weekly market. There are some music clubs in the city.

It is also home to Bahir Dar University, which has had an enrollment of over 4,400 students in the academic year as of October 2006.

With project engineer Steve Stewart leading the way, a 12 meter bore hole was drilled and an Access 1.2 pump was installed a in about five days. 

After leaving Ethiopia, Stewart flew on to Angola for a demonstration project with World Vision Angola, which later would turn into a 1000 well project that began earlier this year. 

In the spring of 2011, Water4 traveled back to Ethiopia to train World Vision and WaterAid U.K. and lay the groundwork for what we hope turns into a long term partnership with the Millennium Water Alliance to help the Ethiopian government achieve universal access to clean water for all Ethiopians.

Here's a photo portfolio documenting both this good work and good experience had by the Water4 team there.

To learn more, or even join the organization on a trip to one of the many places they visit to help local communities, go to: www.water4.org

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