New solar panels, pipes and taps now deliver water access to the town of Gol’Anod, Ethiopia, surviving prolonged droughts.
When Amina Mohamed Abdi needs water for tea, she simply walks across the street, turns behind a small metal shed, and fills up at new tap stands – just minutes from her shop.
Six months ago, fetching water took 4 grueling hours, with Amina sometimes walking back carrying water without a donkey or camel. “Now, it’s no distance at all,” she says.
This transformation is thanks to two key developments. First, a government-installed well with a diesel pump during the 2017 drought. Then in 2022, an upgrade by Oxfam – adding solar panels, distribution pipes, and a 13,000-gallon elevated tank supplying 3 tap stands in this southern Ethiopian town. Livestock troughs were also set up.
These Gol’Anod improvements are part of Oxfam’s East Africa Hunger Crisis response, reducing famine risks in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.
For 35-year-old mother-of-seven Amina, water demands were extremely taxing. Even pregnant, she would walk for hours to collect water, worrying for her kids left alone. Now with proximity, she no longer fears for her daughter’s safety fetching before dawn.
Providing near water access is an Oxfam priority in drought zones like Gol’Anod, facing six years of paltry rains. This cuts water collection times and gender violence risks for women and girls.
Earlier, expensive diesel generators powered the pumps. But the new solar system has slashed costs, piping water directly into Gol’Anod’s 350 homes.
Despite lingering drought struggles, the solar pumps sparked optimism. “Our life started when your organization came to help us,” Amina says. “We are deeply grateful.”
