September 2, 2015
Ethiopia
Mathewos Adebo lives with his wife and eight children in Kedida Gamela region. Although he is only 41 years old, he is looking much older due to long-term concerns about finances.. Last year his life and other poor Ethiopian farmers’ has changed.
Mr. Adebo´s family lives in a house made of grass and they own 0.5 hectare of land cultivated twice a year. Harvests always lasted only three months. The main problem is not the size of the field, but the lack of seeds and utter dependence on the arrival of the rainy season. In addition, to cultivate the soil, Mr. Adebo needed bulls, which he could only afford by renting his soil to richer people. They grew their own crops, of which half went to him as the owner of the field.
Mr. Adebo described his former family situation by saying: “My family and I were very weak and often sick. Children often had to go to get therapeutic care. Although I tried very hard to ensure my family a good livelihood, I was not successful and was very weak due to my physical condition. Day after day our situation got worse. I completely lost hope and gave up.”
It was then that Mr. Adebo learned of the Caritas program aimed at ensuring sustainable livelihoods in Kedida Gamela. He met the inclusion criteria and underwent a two-day agricultural training. He subsequently received vegetable seeds and Irish potatoes, as well as aid in the construction of wells. He decided not to continue to lease his land to others, but to take care of it himself. It required paying the rent for the bulls, which he could afford already with first revenues. During the summer, he harvested 300 kilograms of Irish potatoes that are watered with water from new wells on his own garden. Now his family can eat three times a day. Selling potatoes earned 300 birr (about 350 CZK) and bought them the first farm animal, the goat. Currently, he expects to harvest 2,000 kilograms of potatoes. After selling them, Mr. Adebo would like to buy a bull. Besides potatoes, he also grows vegetables, coffee plants and sells seedlings around the region.
With the help of Caritas, Mr. Adebo changed as a person. He is now very energetic. He is looking toward the future with determination when he says: “Never again I will allow strangers to take care of my land. My children will never again suffer, and none of them will stop attending school. They are now happy because they do not leave for school hungry and eat even after returning from school. I bought them necessary school supplies, and within a few years, I plan to build a better house in which they could better learn, sleep and eat."
Mr. Adebo was deeply touched by help from Caritas CR. While saying: “I am blessed by the grace of God” he looks around his garden. He asked the charity workers to send his deepest gratitude to people who supported the charity program: “May the Lord bless them with abundance of his gifts!”.
