Mid-Construction Report
BUILDING EXCITEMENT IN ADI-AJERO
There wasn't an idle body in Adi-Ajero this summer. Your support has inspired this entire community to be a part of something big, something that will transform and improve their lives forever.
imagine1day's second community school project is 70% complete. We're on target to meet our goal to complete the construction of a four classroom school, an eight stall latrine and a water point in Adi-Ajero. Amid summer rains and a busy planting season, the community has devoted every spare moment to the construction efforts. The community's participation will contribute to the sustainability of the project for years to come.
Thank you for making school a possibility for children in Adi-Ajero.
women at work
Adi-Ajero is buzzing. People are busy planting, collecting water, carving stone and mixing cement. For the daughters, mothers, and grandmothers of the village the work is especially meaningful. The strong and able Tigrigna women play a large role in the community and their motivation is strong. Educating their children previously meant long periods of separation and worry for their safety. These factors translated to very few girls continuing their education past grade one. The approaching reality of having quality education in their backyards is fuelling their already strong work ethic. During the construction of the access road, the contractor reported that more than 70% of the labor was completed by women. He was impressed and has since made an effort to employ women as general laborers. As volunteer labor, women outnumber the men again; collecting water and carrying sand and stone to the construction site throughout the day. Summer is Tigray's rainy season and school construction has been paired with imagine1day's abundant fruit tree planting program on the school's future grounds and yet again, the women were the most eager and productive of the planters.
In just over a month, the school will be open and girls have started to enrol. imagine1day has addressed the girls' barriers to education by providing a separate latrine and convenient water points, and in return opened the door to education for many girls in Adi-Ajero.
"The new school and the new water point will be very good for my children, but it will also change my life too."
Taitu, Mother
Our construction process brought Regional water expert, Ato Haftu Shifaran to the community of Adi-Ajero. For 30 years Haftu has been working with water scarcity issues in the area. Over his engineering career he has gained valuable technical knowledge but will admit whole-heartedly that at times he just knows instinctively where water is available, “for Adi-Ajero, it was both community knowledge, and my gut feelingâ€. This combination led Haftu to begin digging into the damp soil just 200 meters down a hill from the school construction site. Within two meters, there was a trickle, which became a steady flow and soon a small pond had formed where just dirt had been. After much testing Haftu and imagine1day's construction supervisor verified that the spring source had ample capacity to supply both the new school and the community's needs. Spring development has now started and will involve the construction of concrete water containment cribs that collect water from natural seeps and pipe the water by gravity to a convenient reservoir and water point.
For now, the spring is providing convenient and plentiful water for school construction purposes. For the future, the water point will mean increased school attendance as children are no longer walking long distances to collect water for their family's survival; increased sanitation and health benefits; and increased food security as school planting programs are now viable.
trees = real results
2,000 trees planted during construction which included 250 guava trees.
2.5 years to produce fruit that will yield about 100 kg of fruit each year.
500 birr is the expected income from each tree for the community of Adi Ajero