Cradling Humanity

The last week of January 2011 marked an important milestone in the global perspective of my life. This was when I departed Washington, D.C., with 10 fellow travellers from across Canada on a flight to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. We were on a Canadian Foodgrains Bank food study tour to Ethiopia, the cradle of humanity, so – called because the earliest human remains were found there in the Great Rift Valley. The country has a population of 84 million and with that comes the enormous problem of sustainable food security. As the majority of the population are subsistence farmers, they are subject to lack of rainfall, pests and diseases that often plague crops.
There is virtually no infrastructure, which means the people have to walk miles and miles to the nearest market. The roads are filled with people walking with burdens on their backs, beside donkeys, goats, sheep, oxen, cows and camels. If you get out of a vehicle in the middle of nowhere you are immediately surrounded by people—it’s as if the bushes have eyes!
Most of the country is mountainous and the landscape has been stripped of trees over the centuries to provide necessary fuel for cooking, causing soil moisture loss and erosion. To help improve the food situation in such areas, CFGB works with various partners in Ethiopia through Food for Work programs such as irrigation projects, livestock services, soil and water conservation, women’s self – help and income generation groups, emergency relief programs, as well as HIV/AIDS awareness and family planning information.
The Kale Heywet Church is a partner of CFGB working with the Terepezza Development Association in the area of Sodo, which is in the southwest of the country. Farmers there now grow sorghum, maize, mango, citrus, apple, avocado, vegetables, spices, coffee, sweet potatoes, taro and cassava. The women’s groups have goat programs and poultry projects. On our visit to this project we spoke with a farmer who now has 47 traditional and 21 modern beehives. His biggest problem is the chemical pesticides used on surrounding crops but he has a net increase in income of 5,000 birr which translates into about $300 per year. He has trained more than 20 other beekeepers, each having two modern and two traditional hives. CFGB and the government each provide one modern hive. Later, we headed up the mountain, 2,000 metres above sea level, where the area was barren and soil erosion severe. But because of a CFGB program which included stone terraces and tree planting, the land can now be used for crop production. They led 12 projects a year for three years and would like to do 50 more to correct the problem.

In the same area, women’s self – help groups were established four years ago, and there are now 15 groups. One of the women, Aykale Nago told us (through an interpreter) that she has 19 people in her group and they started saving 25 cents each per week. The idea of saving was new to them and she said at first people laughed and called them foolish. But now they have 5,037 birr or $315 and no one is laughing anymore! The money helps members in times of sickness, house damage, etc., and is loaned with no interest. Traditional money lenders charge painfully high interest rates.
The education and income generation programs that are empowering women are undoubtedly keys to solving the poverty and malnutrition problems in Ethiopia. In the current culture, women are second – class citizens but the church is teaching about equality with men and giving them knowledge and confidence to step out onto the path of self – sufficiency.
On our next visit, Ephraim from the Kale Heywet Church, a partner with the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, took us over very rough terrain to a water diversion irrigation scheme which was mostly destroyed by heavy rains in July of 2010. Part of it is still functioning and they are harvesting three seasons’ crops as opposed to one, growing maize, vegetables and bananas. Two hundred and sixty – five households are beneficiaries with one – quarter hectare of land each. While we were there many farmers came streaming over the fields, with primitive tools in their hands, to greet us. One of the farmers, Aberta Kobota, told us, “When Canadian Foodgrains Bank began work here, it was like a desert; we didn’t think this land could ever be workable. We were in tears when the weir broke because we had all worked so hard. The church didn’t leave us but came and supported us. We are blessed because we have communications together. If the donors support us again we are in hope. I beg you from abroad. On behalf of the entire community I bless them and may God bless them richly.”
The highlight of my trip was a homestay in a mud hut with a thatched roof owned by a young farming family, Bergene, Sara and their two small children. They treated the two of us like royalty, giving us their bed and the only two wooden chairs with backs they possessed. The bathroom was a few sticks surrounding a hole in the ground with poles laid across it; you just had to aim and fire! Supper was maize mixed with buttermilk, popcorn cooked over a fire and thick black coffee. During the evening, the whole neighbourhood came to greet the farenji (white people). Before we went to bed they washed our feet, an act I found very touching. I will always have a place in my heart for those warm, wonderful people.
We then headed north – east to the Afar region, a semi – desert, home to nomadic tribes. We stayed at the Support for Sustainable Development Camp which, in partnership with Canadian Lutheran World Relief, runs 12 projects benefitting 600 families. The herds of the nomads were reduced by drought but because of the irrigation projects introduced, they have diversified and can grow sustainable crops such as maize, peppers, onions, tomatoes and fruits. Now the children can attend school and they have a water well and a health clinic. This is predominantly a Muslim area and one man can have up to four wives and 30 children. As only men had been coming out to greet us, the women in our group specifically asked to speak with a group of local women, who ushered us behind one of the village compound buildings. They told us they needed a grinding machine for their grain as they now walk 10 kilometres to use the nearest one, and they also needed a water well in their village. Then, asking us not to tell the men, they expressed very strong views against the practice of female circumcision; only 12 women in the area are not circumcised.
Despite difficulties, Ethiopia is a wonderfully beautiful country which boasts “13 months of sunshine” and equally wonderful, friendly people. It was the personal contact that meant so much to me on this trip. In many places they just kept hugging us and wouldn’t let us go! I left a piece of my heart in Ethiopia, but I feel very proud to be Canadian—a country that helps people to help themselves. Everyone deserves food justice.