16 March 2010

The Burden of Thirst feature in National Geographic magazine's April 2010 special water issue examines water scarcity in East Africa, and covers WaterAid's programme in Ethiopia.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tina Rosenberg writes about how the water crisis in East Africa affects women, and what can be done to help communities establish their own sustainable water supplies.

Her article is accompanied by stunning photographs by World Press Award-winning photographer Lynn Johnson, who traveled to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania to witness how the burden of water collection dominates women's lives.

She has never dared think that someday life could change for the better - that there could arrive a metal spigot, out of the end of which gushed dignity. Tina Rosenberg, National Geographic
The article showcases WaterAid's work in various regions of Ethiopia, highlighting a programme in the arid Konso region which is using innovative sand dam technology to establish a year-round supply of safe water.


Gale Deyknto collecting water from the Shekena pond in the Konso region of Ethiopia.
Credit: Lynn Johnson © National Geographic
Tina Rosenberg poignantly reflects on the difference that access to safe water will make to the life of Aylito Binayo, a mother of three from Konso who has to leave her young children alone while she spends eight hours a day fetching water. Tina Rosenberg writes: "She doesn't dream. She has never dared think that someday life could change for the better - that there could arrive a metal spigot, out of the end of which gushed dignity."

Lynn Johnson's photos feature the construction of a spring-fed gravity flow water network implemented by WaterAid that has brought safe water to the market towns of Ticho and Kella and surrounding villages in the Oromia region of Ethiopia for the first time ever, along with dramatic images of women walking to fetch water across barren landscape in drought-stricken Kenya.

The April issue of National Geographic is available from March 30, 2010.

life

First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you don't know WILL hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences, negative and positive. We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people's experiences, both positive and negative. I've always said it is too bad failures don't give seminars. We don't want to pay them so they don't tour around giving seminars. But the information would be very valuable – how someone who had it all, messed it up. Learning from other people's experiences and mistakes.



We learn by what we see - pay attention. By what we hear – be a good listener. Now I do suggest being a selective listener, don't just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read. Learn from every source. Learn from lectures, learn from songs, learn from sermons, learn from conversations with people who care. Keep learning.