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End the Water Crisis for Families in Ethiopia
Help Serve 184 People
Project Funded!
“Due to the lack of clean water in our village, most of us have health problems.” - Safiya
Dodola region, Ethiopia
- Story
- Dodola, Ethiopia
- FAQ's
Your gift will provide safe water and improved health to families in Dodola, Ethiopia.
Life for Safiya in Dodola, Ethiopia
June 2021
In Ethiopia, a third of the country is drinking contaminated water. It is estimated that 7.5 percent of the global water crisis is in Ethiopia alone. Children in this country are especially vulnerable to preventable waterborne diseases.
In Safiya’s family of 10, her children bear the responsibility for gathering water. Safiya wishes her children didn’t have to work so hard, but she has so much to do on their farm that she depends on their help.
Safiya’s children carry water containers to a spring half an hour away. The water has a bad smell, and it carries waste substances that make the family sick.
“Due to the lack of clean water in our village, most of us have health problems,” said Safiya.
The family has been dealing with bouts of serious typhoid and diarrhea. Treating these diseases costs them a great deal of money at the health center, and when the children are sick they miss school.
Nevertheless, Safiya holds onto hope for a future with safe water.
“We are becoming happy, now that we have hope that Lifewater will bring us a solution to our problem,” rejoiced Safiya.
With safe, accessible water, Safiya’s children would no longer have to miss school because of illness or walk great distances to get water. They would be able to focus on their education.
“I hope for my children to become employees of the government after completing their education so they can support us when we get old,” said Safiya.
When you give safe water, you lift the burdens of mothers, fathers, and children in Dodola, Ethiopia. You make it possible for families to have hope for the future.
About the Region
Dodola, Ethiopia
Dodola, Ethiopia is home to 269,000 people.
Lifewater began serving in Dodola in 2019, focusing on communities with the greatest need for safe water access.
In Dodola, most families live in traditional mud-thatched homes roofed with dried brush from the surrounding forest. A majority of families rely on agriculture for their annual income, and water scarcity and water quality are among what the communities deem their greatest problems.
Water usage is exceptionally low, with the average household using only 13 gallons of water per day between five-six people. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 13 gallons per day per person to meet the basic needs of a human body like hydration and hygiene and sanitation. This means that in Dodola, families are surviving off of what amounts to sips of water a day.
Gathering that minimal amount of water takes two hours and 12 minutes a day in the dry season. Women and children often travel to unprotected springs or rivers.
The contaminated water is dangerous for everyone, particularly children under the age of five years old. Their immune systems are still developing, and they aren’t able to fight illnesses like adults.
The good news is, this is entirely preventable. Lifewater’s work in the surrounding area shows that waterborne illness can be nearly eliminated with basic access to things like safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and washing hands with soap.
Children in Dodola need your help. Give safe water to Dodola today.
No. Your gift will help provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene for the Dodola region rather than one specific village, making it possible for Lifewater to reach families like this as well as their neighbors.
Yes! You can expect regular updates on progress in the Dodola region. And, when the communities in the region are transformed with safe water, you’ll receive a story and photos from a family whose life is changed because of your gift.
Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.
With more than 45 years’ experience, Lifewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 45 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).
Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.
Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.
Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.
Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.
Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.
Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.
Over our 45 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:
Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.
Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.
Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.
To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.
Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.
Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.
Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.
We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.
“We are confident Lifewater’s work will have life-sustaining impact.”
– Cary A. Paine, The Stewardship Foundation
Story
Your gift will provide safe water and improved health to families in Dodola, Ethiopia.
Life for Safiya in Dodola, Ethiopia
June 2021
In Ethiopia, a third of the country is drinking contaminated water. It is estimated that 7.5 percent of the global water crisis is in Ethiopia alone. Children in this country are especially vulnerable to preventable waterborne diseases.
In Safiya’s family of 10, her children bear the responsibility for gathering water. Safiya wishes her children didn’t have to work so hard, but she has so much to do on their farm that she depends on their help.
Safiya’s children carry water containers to a spring half an hour away. The water has a bad smell, and it carries waste substances that make the family sick.
“Due to the lack of clean water in our village, most of us have health problems,” said Safiya.
The family has been dealing with bouts of serious typhoid and diarrhea. Treating these diseases costs them a great deal of money at the health center, and when the children are sick they miss school.
Nevertheless, Safiya holds onto hope for a future with safe water.
“We are becoming happy, now that we have hope that Lifewater will bring us a solution to our problem,” rejoiced Safiya.
With safe, accessible water, Safiya’s children would no longer have to miss school because of illness or walk great distances to get water. They would be able to focus on their education.
“I hope for my children to become employees of the government after completing their education so they can support us when we get old,” said Safiya.
When you give safe water, you lift the burdens of mothers, fathers, and children in Dodola, Ethiopia. You make it possible for families to have hope for the future.
Dodola, Ethiopia
About the Region
Dodola, Ethiopia
Dodola, Ethiopia is home to 269,000 people.
Lifewater began serving in Dodola in 2019, focusing on communities with the greatest need for safe water access.
In Dodola, most families live in traditional mud-thatched homes roofed with dried brush from the surrounding forest. A majority of families rely on agriculture for their annual income, and water scarcity and water quality are among what the communities deem their greatest problems.
Water usage is exceptionally low, with the average household using only 13 gallons of water per day between five-six people. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 13 gallons per day per person to meet the basic needs of a human body like hydration and hygiene and sanitation. This means that in Dodola, families are surviving off of what amounts to sips of water a day.
Gathering that minimal amount of water takes two hours and 12 minutes a day in the dry season. Women and children often travel to unprotected springs or rivers.
The contaminated water is dangerous for everyone, particularly children under the age of five years old. Their immune systems are still developing, and they aren’t able to fight illnesses like adults.
The good news is, this is entirely preventable. Lifewater’s work in the surrounding area shows that waterborne illness can be nearly eliminated with basic access to things like safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and washing hands with soap.
Children in Dodola need your help. Give safe water to Dodola today.
FAQ's
No. Your gift will help provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene for the Dodola region rather than one specific village, making it possible for Lifewater to reach families like this as well as their neighbors.
Yes! You can expect regular updates on progress in the Dodola region. And, when the communities in the region are transformed with safe water, you’ll receive a story and photos from a family whose life is changed because of your gift.
Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.
With more than 45 years’ experience, Lifewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 45 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).
Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.
Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.
Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.
Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.
Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.
Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.
Over our 45 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:
Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.
Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.
Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.
To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.
Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.
Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.
Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.
We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.
Your gift reflects your trust in Lifewater International. We commit to honor your generosity by using your gift to help further the mission and vision of Lifewater International. Your donation is used by Lifewater International according to the project objectives to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene within the specified program area. Lifewater International is a charitable organization as described in 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, registered in the United States. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Donations are non-refundable. Lifewater International will honor a donor’s request for any pre-approved program or project whenever possible. In rare occasions where this is not possible, gifts will be used where needed, in accordance with the organization’s charitable purpose. In accordance with this policy, donor’s explicitly release Lifewater International from further restriction on such funds.
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