Orbis Provides Clean Water to Save Sight, Ethiopia

A study conducted by Orbis revealed that 109 water schemes in Gamo Gofa, Konso and Derashe - a region of over two million people in southern Ethiopia - were non-functional due to broken pipes or lack of simple maintenance. 

Had these water points been functional, the water coverage in this area would be more than 70%. This would significantly reduce the prevalence of trachoma in the area.

As part of the blinding trachoma elimination project in the area, Orbis raises awareness of the imporatnce of personal and environmental hygiene.

Orbis partnered with WaterAid Ethiopia and local NGO Mekane Jesu partnership in order to rehabilitate the non-functional water schemes in this area.

Six water points in Chencha Woreda were rehabilitated and are now serving about five thousand people.

Water committee members were selected and trained to manage the water points so if maintenance issues arise again there are people on hand to fix the water schemes. 

A water committee member said, “The problem of trachoma was very high when the water points were out of use for more than four years; our women were traveling more than 10KM to fetch water from the river. As this water is polluted, we were highly affected with trachoma. Our children stopped attending schools and stayed at home due to trachoma. Now things are becoming wonderful with us. Orbis solved our problem. We would like to say thank you to Orbis for understanding and solving our critical problem.”

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