Health center receives drinking water treatment plant

11.08.2017 - 15:52 -
arche noVa has taken a huge step in the emergency aid in the arid regions in East Africa: Project manager Nazir Ahmed consigned a drinking water treatment plant to the team of a health center in the Ethiopian province of Denan. This plant is going to be connected soon. It is urgently needed as the hospital has been completely overcrowded since the drought and has no safe drinking water supply.

Up to 8,000 people in need from Denan and the surrounding area have to be supplied every day. The residents, the staff and the patients drank unfiltered water, which is taken from a river 70 kilometers away from the project area and is delivered by trucks.

At the moment the health centers' truck is in a garage in Addis Ababa for repair. As soon as remedial maintenance is finished, the truck will resume transporting water to the hospital and surrounding communities. That will also be part of our humanitarian aid as the community and the health center do not have their own resources for water trucking.

Local partners take responsibility for installation

Soon the water is going to be delivered again and will then be filtered within a short period of time. Our staff member Nazir Ahmed trained the team of our local partner organization OWDA and two officials of the health care station on the installation, operation and maintenance in detail. Firstly, they have to build the associated pipes and a high tank. The technical details were discussed and the inherent planning was performed. arche noVa is also going to take over the renovation and construction of sanitary facilities in the health center. Together with the person responsible the planning has been made. Currently, four of the toilets at the health center are still functioning and usable.

Humanitarian aid is urgently needed in the region

Ethiopia is one of the East African countries mostly affected by the current drought, which has caused a food crisis since autumn 2015. In the Somali region in the east of the country two rainy seasons have failed. As a result the cattle have died. Many people had to give up their nomadic life and settle in informal camps. The families are suffering from famine. In the hospital, people and children with acute malnutrition and diarrheal diseases are treated daily.

The relief efforts at the health care center can only be realized by arche noVa due to numerous donations that have been made to our call. Among the supporters of our humanitarian mission in Denan is also the city of Dresden. We would like to thank everyone for their support.

Teilen: