Hygiene is particularly important during the Covid 19 pandemic and is an almost impossible challenge for people in regions with inadequate water supply. When our long-standing project partner Fekadu Aleka approached the board of the WaterFoundation with a request for support for the district town of Debre Birhan, Beate Grotehans and Robert Balthasar were immediately aware of the need to act quickly. 5,000 euros of Corona emergency aid were immediately and unbureaucratically transferred to the special committee.
Crop failures and malnutrition weaken Covid-19 patients
Climate change had a drastic impact on Ethiopia in 2020: The rainy season came too early, then it stopped raining altogether and then the rain came too late, so that the harvest was not productive or was destroyed by the rain. The corona pandemic further exacerbated the existing problems. “The danger of the epidemic was massively underestimated in Ethiopia. The number of infected people is growing daily and medical care is quickly reaching its limits. However, the undernourished people in particular have hardly any chance of recovering by their own efforts,” explains Fekadu Aleka.
Disinfectants, soap, masks and food for families in Debre Berhan
This is how his plan to support the people in the city of Debre Birhan, 130 km northeast of Addis Ababa, with donations in kind came about. In the area around Debre Birhan, the WaterFoundation has already successfully implemented 14 water projects, without which basic hygiene such as frequent hand washing would not be possible. Now further support is being added: in addition to 10 bars of curd soap, 10 mouth-and-nose masks, over 100 needy families received 25 kg of flour and 5 litres of oil each to stop malnutrition. Depending on the size of the families, the supplies last from one to three months.
