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Hi,my name name is Haji Ali.
I was born in Ethiopia in 2002. The first thirteen years of my life, my family and I struggled because of the scarcity of water. As a ten-year old, I walked twenty miles daily just to get water for our family and livestock. Many times I came home empty-handed after waiting in line for fourteen hours. How I hated coming home without a drop. Even our oxen would follow me around bawling because they knew I was their water source. In all those years, I never drank clean water.
In 2015 my life changed drastically. When our widowed mother died, my four siblings and I came to the US to live with our aunt and uncle.
In my wildest dreams I could not imagine being able to walk into the kitchen and in two seconds have a glass of clear, clean water with ice cubes, no less!. It was unbelievable! After walking twenty miles every day for water, I now had it at the turn of a faucet.
But it also makes me sad that so many Americans take this precious gift for granted. What my family and friends in Ethiopia would give to have a well and access to water!
My idea for this project evolved when I was in tenth grade. My biology teacher suggested I write a paper on water insecurity in Ethiopia for the World Food Prize. This would be easy for me. I didn’t have to do much research because I had experienced it first hand. After presenting my paper, at Iowa State University, I became a Norman Borlaug scholar. This was where my dream for the project began. I would build a well on my family’s farm in Ethiopia and turn it over to the community.
The money given to me by my church and the community of Cedar Rapids, along with online fundraising, allowed me to return to Ethiopia this past summer to start the project on my family’s land. The project is now well-underway. The 170ft well has been dug, and the land has been prepared. What remains to be done is to purchase the pump, and the solar panels which will power the well. What has stopped me is the lack of funds. This fall I am once again in school, but my thoughts are in Ethiopia.
The fund will allow me to finish this undertaking which will change the lives of my people. When I started the project, they were overwhelmed at the thought that someone in America cared enough to give them such a priceless gift.
I now know how valuable this project is. I will not only I will be able to give my people clean water for the rest of their lives, but it will also provide water for their livestock.
Who would have thought that one day I would be drinking clean water, sharing it with others, and changing their destiny.
I was born in Ethiopia in 2002. The first thirteen years of my life, my family and I struggled because of the scarcity of water. As a ten-year old, I walked twenty miles daily just to get water for our family and livestock. Many times I came home empty-handed after waiting in line for fourteen hours. How I hated coming home without a drop. Even our oxen would follow me around bawling because they knew I was their water source. In all those years, I never drank clean water.
In 2015 my life changed drastically. When our widowed mother died, my four siblings and I came to the US to live with our aunt and uncle.
In my wildest dreams I could not imagine being able to walk into the kitchen and in two seconds have a glass of clear, clean water with ice cubes, no less!. It was unbelievable! After walking twenty miles every day for water, I now had it at the turn of a faucet.
But it also makes me sad that so many Americans take this precious gift for granted. What my family and friends in Ethiopia would give to have a well and access to water!
My idea for this project evolved when I was in tenth grade. My biology teacher suggested I write a paper on water insecurity in Ethiopia for the World Food Prize. This would be easy for me. I didn’t have to do much research because I had experienced it first hand. After presenting my paper, at Iowa State University, I became a Norman Borlaug scholar. This was where my dream for the project began. I would build a well on my family’s farm in Ethiopia and turn it over to the community.
The money given to me by my church and the community of Cedar Rapids, along with online fundraising, allowed me to return to Ethiopia this past summer to start the project on my family’s land. The project is now well-underway. The 170ft well has been dug, and the land has been prepared. What remains to be done is to purchase the pump, and the solar panels which will power the well. What has stopped me is the lack of funds. This fall I am once again in school, but my thoughts are in Ethiopia.
The fund will allow me to finish this undertaking which will change the lives of my people. When I started the project, they were overwhelmed at the thought that someone in America cared enough to give them such a priceless gift.
I now know how valuable this project is. I will not only I will be able to give my people clean water for the rest of their lives, but it will also provide water for their livestock.
Who would have thought that one day I would be drinking clean water, sharing it with others, and changing their destiny.
