stories from the village

Meet Beletu

Beletu is a twenty-five-year-old mother of two from the village of Washa-Tekus of Lay Gaint woreda in South Gondar, Ethiopia. By age five, Beletu was responsible for fetching water for the family, waking up early to prepare for the long journey – an everyday reality for many villagers. Beletu grew up dreaming to be a farmer, but she was forced to quit school in 7th grade when she lost both of her parents. 

Now, Beletu is a mother with two beautiful children.

Twenty years ago, at the age of five, Beletu recalls the difficulty of accessing clean water. She would wake up early to get in line before the crowd started to build up and spend more than 4 hours just trekking to the water well and back in time to go to school. This was a sad reality for the villagers. As a result, her childhood dream of working in agriculture, gardening, and food production was put on hold.

In 2018, when Drop of Water visited her village for a potential water project, she thought, “I am so excited for the opportunity to have a water well near my home.” As promised, with the financial support of Stream of Hope, a nonprofit organization based in the USA, Drop of Water successfully completed a new spring water project for Beletu’s village. It was a joyful year for Beletu, as she received her own plot of land from the government, enjoyed clean water near her house, and named her newborn baby Desta, which means happiness.

The spring well not only provides clean water but also allows Beletu to support her family’s livelihood and fulfill her dream.

Since the well discharges large amounts of water and occasionally overflows, Beletu found a way to utilize the extra water for a good purpose. She asked the water committee for permission to transport the extra water to her property and grow a garden. Now, she grows cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, spinach, rosemary, and other plants at her home garden for household consumption and provides vegetables to the local market to supplement her income.

Beletu is appreciative of the blessings the water source has given her and expresses her deepest gratitude to the people who worked hard for the successful completion of the project.

Clean Water Transforms Lives!!