Water Is Life Ethiopia: Being able to provide safe drinking water to rural areas in Ethiopia is our goal.  We want to break the cycle of dependency and empower entire communities to sustain themselves and work their way out of poverty through the provision of clean water.

"Safe water for everyone, everywhere." Water is the most basic life resource, yet approximately 1.1 billion people (nearly 20% of the world's population) do not have access to safe water.

 SENAI’s Water Is Life Ethiopia project is a designated/restricted project. All funds donated will go to implementing water projects across Ethiopia.

Why?

In  Ethiopia alone 54 million people do not have access to safe water. The number of people without access to safe drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 60 million between 1990 and 2004 purely because of population growth.

11% of the global population, or 783 million people, are still without access improved sources of drinking water. 
Source: JMP 2012

Globally, diarrhea is the leading cause of illness and death, and 88 per cent of diarrheal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities, together with inadequate availability of water for hygiene and unsafe drinking water.
Source: JMP 

The provision of improved sanitation and safe drinking water could reduce diarrhoeal diseases by nearly 90 per cent. 
Source: JMP 

Today 2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That's 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.
Source: WWDR, 2012 

How?

SENAI partners with local businesses and NGO's to implement our water projects in Ethiopia.  They provide a skilled and local workforce, business relationships, in-country experience and dedication to social enterprise.

• Members from each community participate in the well drilling project by providing labor for the installation, building a fence to protect the well, and gathering a goat or chickens for payment.

• Because we use local resources, we are able to get competive pricing (depends on depth, location, and amount of materials and machinery.)

• Because some of the equipment is manufactured locally and the wells are dug by the people of the community, moving parts are easier to maintain and repair.

• Upon completion of the well, basic health and hygiene are taught to community leaders, who then pass this education on to the people in their villages.

• Year-round farming is now possible because of a clean water source.  Tools are sold or donated so drip irrigation gardens can be created.  People are better able to feed their families and can sell their surplus in the market.