Scott Harrison's Blog
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Clean Water at 176 feet. Watch the first Twestival well drilled.
- Posted on 04.13.09
Mai Nebri, Ethiopia. April 11, 1:30 P.M.
It started with a 140-character tweet on January 8. And a few hours ago, in a remote Ethiopian village, hundreds cheered as clean water shot from the ground. The sight was a familiar one for us, but this well was special. Here's why.
On February 12, people from 202 cities around the world came together for charity: water using a micro-blogging tool called Twitter. The global event was called Twestival, and was organized in less than four weeks completely by volunteers.
More than 10,000 individual donors contributed just shy of $250,000 - enough for 50 villages and 12,500 people to get clean water. As always, 100% of the money will fund water projects. Overwhelmed by the generosity and passion of the Twitter community, we couldn't wait to show their impact in real-time and answer the question, "What can this money really do?" So today, with lead Twestival organizer Amanda Rose and the help of satellite partner Evosat, we shot, edited, and posted the first of four daily videos from Northern Tigray, Ethiopia.
Mai Nebri has a heartbreaking story, but today it's being rewritten. "Welcome to this remote and forgotten place," proclaimed the 34-year-old village chairman, Guerish. "You have sacrificed a lot to come to this very remote area." While we had traveled far to visit this community, our long journey seemed trivial compared to the challenges the 500 people here face every day.
Like so many in this harsh region, Mai Nebri's women and children walk more than 5 hours every day for unsafe water. Some of the women had deformed backbones from carrying 40 pounds of water. A hyena attack recently claimed the life of a child on her way to the water hole at 4 a.m., and waterborne diseases like bilharzia and diarrhea are common. Many of the girls here don't get a chance to attend school and instead have to fetch water.
Seven-foot tall Nato Mohammed, who village elders told us was the 2nd tallest man in the nation, said softly, "Without water, there is no life." With the drill rig and support trucks only a few feet behind him, he spoke with a smile, "You have brought life into this community."
Watch today's video here, and join us over the next three days as we post daily videos from Ethiopia. We'll be back in Mai Nebri on Tuesday the 14th to see the pump installed, and share with you the celebration of new life and opportunity for our new friends here.
Related causes: Health, Human Rights
