‘THE APPRENTICE’

A long day at the Shilanet watershed. Our lessons learned project is looking at 4 aspects of the watershed programmes here and in Adua (where I went last year).

We are looking for the best outcomes in:

Agricultural production and marketing (my bit)
Water development
Community institutions and capacity building
HIV and gender equality issues.

We found a cracking first case study Goitum Hilaf, a 24 year old farmer, who with the help of his mother and brothers has changed their lives since 2003 when they needed food aid for half a year (after the wheat crop had all gone). He is now a ‘business man’ with a range of crops, cows, oxen, donkeys, an astute awareness of local market forces, a petrol pump for irrigation that he hires out to friends (at a charge) and excess cash that he loans to fellow farmers,. He has extended his house, re-roofed it with corrugated iron and now has 3 sets of clothes! An impoverished farmer transformed into a worthy 'apprentice' by his own efforts, training and support from the project and, of course, the regular water supply the project has created.

We saw many more examples of heartening stories which I have no time for now. We also saw a corrugated potato storage ‘house’ which somehow was cool enough to sleep in despite the baking sun and the temperature in the eighties. However at this point there was an unseasonable thunderstorm and a deluge. We were forced to shelter in the storage house with many of the locals for about 30 minutes. I now have some rather filthy clothes and shoes to deal with!

We left at 7 this morning and got back at 6 – beats going to the gym!