Ethiopia through a lens

Published in

Christian Aid

4 min readAug 11, 2016

Over the course of 2015, Christian Aid teamed up with PhotoVoice to find out how climate change affects the daily lives of those in Adegalchat, a remote rural community in southern Ethiopia.

© Kate Watson 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

What did we do?

We provided photography training and support to a variety of people in the Adegalchat community. We gained a behind-the-scenes look at the impact climate change is having on this ‘kebele’ or village, two days’ drive from Addis Ababa.

The images, all selected and taken by the community, give us an insight into how drought, flooding and other extreme weather conditions impact on livelihoods, as part of our work on the UK aid-funded BRACED project.

Why are we doing this?

We hope that, by gaining a better understanding of the main issues, we can support those most affected to prepare for, adapt to and mitigate the negative impact of climate extremes.

Below are a selection of the images the participants took, split into four main categories: sanitation, weather forecasting, women’s empowerment and family planning.

Each photo was taken by one of the participants and the captions were translated from discussions we had with them at the end of the project.

Sanitation

The impact of drought and flooding on rural communities continues to cause major sanitation problems.

Through their eyes, participants showed us how seasonal peaks affect them. Here are some of their stories.

‘I captured this because the woman is a very old lady and she is helpless because she has no daughters here to support her as they live far away. Her son is also far away tending to his livestock. Even though her sight is very poor, she has to fetch and carry water for herself. She slipped and fell on stones. Here she is being helped in the medical center. Older people in the community should be taken care of and need to have support.’ © Ganyu Duba Barangudo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘This water is simply not clean. Both humans and animals have to drink from it. It is the only water source we have. Even this water source won’t last for a long time and will dry up after the rainy season . So it lasts only one month and 15 days. It serves three clusters (communities) and our cluster is very densely populated so in the morning, everybody, including livestock and donkeys, come here to fetch water. When it dries, we are forced to walk for four hours. Everybody worries it won’t last.’ © Godana Sara Boru 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘Water storage is a critical issue in this community. We use these donkeys to travel very long distances to fetch water. But those women who are vulnerable and without donkeys are forced to carry the water on their backs. We walk for four hours each way, so eight hours in total each day, every day. We are all suffering but especially those without the support of donkeys. Without them, a woman can only carry one jerry can and this is simply not enough for any household.’ © Chula Abu Tesfaye 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘In this image you can see that the calf is becoming weak. The water points are far away and a calf like this is supposed to walk eight hours in total to travel to and from a water source just to drink. So you see, it is not just the droughts but also being forced to walk this great distance that is killing our livestock and is such a burden to pastoralists in the area. We need closer water sources to help us manage our livestock.’ © Liban Doyo Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

Weather forecasting

Traditional methods for predicting the onset of war, famine, disease and drought have been passed down through the generations. For the Borena tribe, this includes reading the stars, analysing the intestines of their livestock and detecting changes in animal behaviour.

BRACED seeks to integrate scientific methods of weather forecasting with existing indigenous knowledge. Through forecasting from the Met Office and national meteorologists, Christian Aid will work with communities like Adegalchat to develop trust and support local village chiefs to use modern forecasts for more accurate weather readings.

‘I am interested in biology and chemistry. This periodic table is related to climate change and can contribute to a modern approach of weather forecasting. The mixture of these elements can bring change in the seasons, forming gases and even bringing rain.’ © Dabo Bule 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘This is the radio in my house. I am not listening to this radio but my children listen to the weather forecasting and the meteorology experts. It can compliment traditional weather forecasting methods, and not just for my each household — we share this information with the other members of the community. Even though I have this, I have no time to listen to it as I am outside working all day.’ © Kula Taro Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘If you have a plot or a community grazing ground, you must preserve a bank of food for your livestock by cutting and carefully storing grass so that you have a reserve to feed the animals during hard times. In turn the animals will support the community. This is a photo I took to show how we collect grass to prepare for extreme weather. I wanted to show my son on the roof of my house — though normally this is done in the fields.’ © Kula Taro Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘I want to show the effects of drought — everything becomes dry, including the seeds which bring resources.’ © Kula Taro Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘This is a way to cope with drought and build our resilience. As you can see, the cow is thin and weak. Therefore we must follow him and feed him the grass that we have cut and collected so that he can gain strength and live for a long time. Everybody must see and learn about the impact of drought from this image.’ © Jaro Barako Kanchora 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

© PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

Women’s empowerment

A key part of the BRACED programme focuses on support for women. In rural parts of Ethiopia, women are heavily burdened by tasks such as fetching water, looking after the livestock and raising children. Our work helps them to coordinate women’s committees to discuss the issues that affect them, share resources and support each other within cooperatives.

‘This is my restaurant in my home. It is named after my husband but I started it myself by making bread to sell to the community. Now I’m also selling injera and shiro (local foods). Most women rely on their husbands to provide them with money but this isn’t good. I was motivated to start this business and strive to make my own money. Even if the restaurant does not do fantastically, I am proud that I can work for myself in order to provide enough money to support my children.’ © Tume Jarso Dida 2016 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘You see me here and you must know that I wasn’t always like this. I used to be young, clean and pretty but money difficulties and life challenges have aged me and made me lose my looks. I need a clean environment to be comfortable. Government information advises us to keep our households clean and to keep livestock, food preparation and humans separate. I am a member of the house of representatives and a leader of the community. In my home I have even made a separate bathroom and so I am proud to be a role model to my community and encourage other villagers to do the same.’ © Godana Sara Boru 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

Family planning

One of the main themes to emerge was the importance of spacing between children as a primary method for reducing maternal and pre-natal mortality. Our work will help to raise awareness about family planning.

‘The lady in the poster is pregnant and as you can see, her husband is supporting her — he is sharing her pain and her experience. I am also pregnant and I like this photo as it is an indication of their love and care for each other.’ © Dadhi Kalicha Dido 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘I was coming from another village early this morning and I found these children left alone. Their mother and father are very poor and have gone to collect wood from far away. I found the children playing in the dirt and eating soil because they are hungry. I was amazed because they are alone and so vulnerable with the wild animals. If a snake came, what would they do? They are only very young. Look how close they are in age — there is no family planning and this family does not have the capacity to look after these young children. My message is that family planning is so important to support the children that we already have. By not using it, we expose our children to malnutrition, disease and poverty from the expenses of a large family.’ © Kula Taro Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

‘Look- you can see how I am using family planning. These are my sons, Leben and Abato and I have another son in between so they are all 3 years apart. For me, it means I am balancing my potential as a mother. I am proud that I can protect and support my children. If I couldn’t care for those I have, I would limit the number of children I have in the future.’ © Kula Taro Wariyo 2015 | PhotoVoice | Christian Aid | BRACED | Ethiopia

What next?

Christian Aid is part of an international consortium running the BRACED programme in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, building the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate extremes and disasters in high risk locations. We’re taking the feedback and learnings from this PhotoVoice project to help inform our BRACED project, as well as our wider resilience work.