Gebremariam family
Thanks to the training and support they received, the Gebremariams now grow enough peppers, tomatoes and onions to eat and sell.
Welday and Almaz Gebremariam live with their mum, dad and two brothers and sisters in a small village in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia.
18-year-old Welday is one of the top students in his class and wants to be a teacher when he finishes school.
When he isn’t studying, he helps his parents farm their land.
In his spare time, Welday likes listening to music, playing football and chatting to his friends.
Ten year old Almaz is the baby of the family. When she gets home from school, she helps her mum and sister with the housework and looks after the cattle.
She said: "Around here we have cattle, sheep, donkeys and there are also monkeys in the mountains.
"In Ethiopia, the rainy season starts in July and lasts for two months. For the rest of the time, it is sunny and dry."
Like most people in their village, the Gebremariam family depend on the food they produce on their small patch of land. But Tigray is a rocky, dry place which doesn’t get a lot of rain so it is often difficult to grow enough to eat.
The past few years have been even dryer than usual. The rains have come later, and been less heavy than normal causing crops to wither and die in the fields. A global food crisis has also pushed up the price of basic foods like beans and rice, making them too expensive for families with little money.
No matter how hard Almaz and Welday’s parents worked, they could not grow enough to eat and they couldn’t afford to buy food at the local market either.
With SCIAF’s help, their village built a reservoir which collects and stores rainwater before it soaks into the ground. A system of concrete canals then carry the water straight to each family’s crops so that they don’t dry out. SCIAF also gave Welday’s family agricultural training so that they could grow and harvest a greater variety of crops.
Thanks to the irrigation system, the Gebremariam family are now able to grow enough peppers, tomatoes and onions to eat and sell. With the business skills they learned from SCIAF, they can sell their produce for a decent profit at nearby markets. The extra income helps to pay for essentials like food, school books and uniforms.
Welday said: “Because of your support, concrete canals and the reservoir have been built. Lots of people have benefitted. Before there was no irrigation and we didn’t know about doing spacing between seedlings. Now the crops have improved and we can grow more of a variety. Having different vegetables is better. The bargaining power of families has also improved, which means that we can improve on our income. We are also trying to sell our produce in different nearby markets.”
What are you giving up?