“Today I’m saying goodbye to the agony of diarrhoea”
Since World Vision installed a new water pipe in Amanuel’s village in Ethiopia, the 12-year-old hasn’t stopped telling everyone how happy he is:
I am in fact the happiest person in the world now. This is because I’ve started drinking clean and safe water that makes me healthy for the rest of my life.
- Amanuel, 12
Clean water, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene are vital for the wellbeing and health of children and communities. They can prevent children catching waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, which in turn cause children to miss school. Currently, only 49% of people in Ethiopia have access to safe water.
"Today I'm saying goodbye to the agony of diarrhoea, this is the day we get seperated from the pains and sufferings of waterborne diseases once and for all,” Amanuel explains happily.
It takes Amanuel an hour to walk to school each day, and he often found himself disadvantaged compared to other students who had access to clean water. “Whenever issues of unclean water were discussed in class, my classmates and teachers used to cite our villagers as typical examples. But today I told my classmates that we have clean water and advised them not to mention our village people when talking of unclean water,” he explains with pride.
Amanuel knows clean water will make a huge improvement to his family’s life. “My dad will not waste his time and money medicating us," he says. "I will never miss school again because of disease. My school performance will, therefore, definitely improve very soon. I’ll also keep clean regularly because I can access the water in a walking distance from my home.”
With improved access to clean water Amanuel has the opportunity to excel at his studies and has big dreams for the future: “I am really excited. Starting from the day World Vision begun drilling clean water, I’ve changed my dream from becoming a doctor to water engineer. This is because drilling one water source will save thousands of people from waterborne diseases.”
World Vision began working in Ethiopia in the 1970’s. In the past six years alone (2011-2016), we have provided a little over two million people with safe drinking water, 1.9 million people with dignified sanitation and 1.8 million people with improved hygiene practices. You can find out more about how you can support our work in Ethiopia here.
