Gebreselassie family
Thanks to you, the Gebreselassies now grow enough vegetables to earn an income and keep hunger at bay.
The Gebreselassie family – dad, Gebreselassie, mum Berhan, and their children, Genet, Tirhas and Yemane – live in the arid mountains of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. They appear on this year’s WEE BOX and their story is the focus of our Lent campaign.
Like many families in Tigray, the Gebreselassies are small-scale farmers working hard to scrape together a living from the dry, stony land. Growing enough to eat has always been a challenge but climate change is causing the rains to become less predictable, making life even more difficult. The little rain that does fall soaks straight into the parched earth and is lost. They struggled to grow enough food and were eating just one small meal a day.
SCIAF helped their community to build a reservoir tank which collects the precious rain water, and irrigation systems to distribute it directly to crops. We also gave the Gebreselassies agricultural training so that they can grow a greater variety of crops. Business skills have helped them to negotiate the best price for their produce at the local market.
Gebreselassie said: “Before we got help from SCIAF, living here was tough. There wasn’t enough water and we used to be very hungry. Now it’s much better. Thanks to SCIAF we have water and we have been trained in crop rotation. We know now that maize and wheat are better for the rainy season. After September we plant potatoes, tomatoes, onions and chilli peppers. In December it is barley.”
Now the Gebreselassie family has more food to eat and extra to sell. They enjoy three meals a day and can afford to send their children to school. They can also buy clothes, and other essentials like cooking oil and soap.
What are you giving up?