ETHIOPIA: Great trek for water in the south

[Forkboy]

BORENA (OROMIYA REGION), 19 July 2011 (IRIN) - For many people, access to water is a mere turn of the tap away; for Abdha Aso, a 20-year-old mother of five, it involves a four-hour round trip to a muddy pond. Only a year ago, she could reach a nearby stream in 20 minutes but it has since dried up.

The rains, which usually fall twice a year - between October and November and February and May - in the Borena zone in southern Ethiopia failed last year and this.

IRIN accompanied Abdha on one of her daily journeys. “Are you sure you will be able to do it? The road is difficult,” she says. With quick instructions to her mother-in-law on feeding her five-month-old baby, we set off in the afternoon sun. Nasibo, 10, a neighbour’s daughter, joins us.

I ask about safety. “We always travel in groups – never alone and you will see we will meet a lot of women on this road,” Abdha replies.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93265