Worancha ወራንቻ

Ten years after the Ethiopian famine of 2003, when international food aid rushed in to feed 14 million people, another World Food Program (WFP) tent has been erected on an open field. But this isn't a scene of food distribution. It is a scene of food purchase. The action happens on the grounds of the Sidama Elto Farmers' Cooperative Union in Awassa, Ethiopia. Sidama Elto is one of 16 cooperative unions in Ethiopia that have signed forward contracts with the WFP for the purchase of more than 28,000 metric tons of maize grown by their smallholder farmer members. The maize, which is part of 112,000 tons of food the WFP purchased in Ethiopia last year, will be used for WFP relief distributions in the country. Ten years ago, many of those farmers and their families were receiving food aid from the WFP. One of the major lessons in agricultural development over the past decade is this: Markets Matter. The 2003 famine tragically, and incomprehensibly, followed two years of bu

ከምሽቱ ኣምስት ሰዓት ኣካባቢ ከኣንድ መኖሪያ ቤት ተነሳ የተባለው እሳት በኣካባቢው የነበሩት ወደ 12 የሚሆኑ የንግድ ቤቶችን ያቃጠለ ሲሆን ከተቃጠሉት የንግድ ቤቶች መካከል የምግብ ቤቶች፤ የሸቀጣሸቀጥ መደብሮች፤ የመድሃኒት ቤት፤ የህንጻ መሳሪያ መሸጫን የመሳሰሉት ይገኙበታል። ቃጠሎው ያወደማቸውን ቤቶች ተዘዋውረው የጎበኙት የዞኑ ካፍተኛ ባለስልጣናት ንብረታቸውን በእሳት ላጡ ለከተማዋ ነዋሪዎች መንግስት ድጋፍ እንደሚያደርግ መናገራቸው ተሰምቷል።

አዋሳ ግንቦት 05/2005 በሲዳማ ዞን ባለፉት ዘጠኝ ወራት ከ17 ሺህ 600 ቶን በላይ የታጠበ ቡና ለማዕከላዊ ገበያ መቅረቡን የዞኑ ግብይትና ህብረት ስራ መምሪያ አስታወቀ፡፡ በመምሪያው የግብርና ግብይት የስራ ሂደት አስተባባሪ አቶ ገነነ ገቢባ ባለፈው ቅዳሜ ለኢትዮጵያ ዜና አገልግሎት እንደገለጹት በዞኑ ቡና አምራች ከሆኑ 13 ወረዳዎች የቀረበው ይሄው ቡና በዘጠኝ ወሩ ተሰብስቦ ከተዘጋጀው 22 ሺህ 851 ቶን የታጠበ ቡና ውስጥ ነው፡፡ ቀሪው 5 ሺህ 245 ቶን የታጠበ ቡና በየወረዳዎቹ በመጋዘን በክምችት እንደሚገኝና በቅርቡ በተመሳሳይ ለማዕከላዊ ገበያ ለማቅረብ መዘጋጀቱን አስረድተዋል፡፡ በዞኑ ለማዕከላዊ ገበያ የሚቀርበው ከ95 በመቶ በላይ የታጠቡ ቡና መሆኑን አስተባባሪው አመልክተው ያለፉት ዘጠኝ ወራት አቅርቦት ከዕቅዱ ቢያንስም ካለፈው አመት ተመሳሳይ ጊዜ ጋር ሲነጻጻር በ2 ሺህ 154 ቶን ብልጫ እንዳለው ተናግረዋል፡፡ ከዕቅዱ አንጻር አቅርቦቱ የቀነሰው የአለም ገበያ ዋጋ መውረድ ጋር ተያይዞ ይጨምራል በሚል የመጠበቅና በክምችት የመያዝ ሁኔታ ቢስተዋልም አሁን የገበያው ሁኔታ እየተሻሻለ በመምጣቱ በቀጠዩ ጊዜያት አቅርቦቱም ከፍ እንደሚል ይጠበቃል ብለዋል፡፡ ቡናው ተዘጋጅቶ ለማዕከላዊ ገበያ የተላከው በ51 የህብረት ስራ ማህበራትና በ244 የግል ባለሀብቶች አማካኝነት ነው፡፡ በቡና ማጠብና ዝግጅቱ ላይ 336 ኢንዱስትሪዎች መሳተፋቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡ በዞኑ ቡና አምራች በሆኑት ወረዳዎች በእሻት ቡና ዝግጅትና አሰባሰብ ላይ በዘጠኝ ወራት ውስጥ ከ51 ሺህ ለሚበልጡ ሰዎች ቋሚና ጊዜያዊ የስራ እድል ተጠቃሚ መሆናቸውን አስተባባሪው አስታውቀዋል፡፡ በእሸት ቡና ግዥ ላይ የተሳተፉ አርሶ አደሮችም ዘንድሮ ከ923 ሚሊዮን ብር በ

Awassa is a university city with 25 000 students. As it is quite big city and there are enormous differences in living standard one sees a lot of iron fences and gates with barbed wire or broken glass on top of them, and all the well off people have watch dogs or guards – or both. One day I climbed Mount Tabor, a beautiful small mountain almost next to my house, with my hosts Tariku and Demelash and seeing the beauty and tranquility there planned to make the climb part of my morning routines with some qigong at the top, but the boys adviced me not to do that since it is not safe for a farangi to go there alone, they said. Actually Demelash got robbed there once, at the base of the mountain with a knife pointing his way – luckily his Ikkyo was swift, but it didn’t prevent the other thugs coming from behind snatching his mobile from his pocket. In spite of all this I felt safe the whole time I was in Awassa – if you know the rules of where you can go and when and stick to t

Heartland Girls Rural Life Training Center: Sister Donna Frances has an orphanage and school on the shore of Lake Awassa in Ethiopia. In this remote area, every time kids take a drink from the local stream or lake, they are playing biological Russian Roulette. In response to such dire conditions Waves For Water was asked to intervene. Jack Rose and Jamie Grumet designed a solution, and after successful fundraising efforts, Jack flew from California to Ethiopia with 80 water filters - enough to bring safe drinking water to over 8,000 people. Everyone agrees safe drinking water is a basic human right – that children around the world shouldn’t have to suffer when they quench their thirst from the local stream, pond, lake or river. Enter brilliant technology, in the form of a point-of-use, hollow-fiber water filter, which allows these common water sources to be 100% safe to drink. Village by village, in every far cor