Part 2: Stories from Ethiopia

Asay Desta is a wonderful woman. Entrepreneur, strong and able, throughout the project she has demonstrated outstanding determination and leadership skills. Not in vain, Asay is the head of her small family (compared to an average Ethiopian family) composed of her and her two young sons. Her husband abandoned this native woman from Mehebereweini 5 years ago and since then she has been managing her own land. Her land of 0.25 hectares barely produces 2.5 quintals per harvest, which she collects one year after the rainy season. Her land could produce more, but for that she would need access to water during the dry season. However, Asay cannot afford to purchase or hire a water pump to irrigate her land, and being the only adult is unable to irrigate the crops by picking up buckets of water from the river. This is why she sublets her land to other farmers who can cultivate it during the dry season. The project provides an opportunity for this single mother to irrigate her land in the dry season and have more than one harvest a year. Excited by the idea of being part of the women’s fruit tree cooperative included in the project, she shares with us her future plans with a smile full of hope.

This is the second in a series of articles about our beneficiaries in Ethiopia.

Previous articles in this series:

Introduction - Ethiopia: Portraits and success stories

Part 1: Stories from Ethiopia

Project Information:

For more information about our project in Ethiopia

Marta is the RDC project coordinator in Ethiopia