When it Rains it Pours….

A few days ago I was traveling with some of my colleagues from Addis Ababa to Zeway. It had started raining the night before in Addis and I was surprised to see that it was also raining outside of Addis. The roads were wet and flooded in various places. Flash floods are common in the rift valley as there will be a torrential downpour in one place, then that water will flood a place where there was no rain. On our way down we saw many flooded houses and rivers in places where there should be no river.

That afternoon we received a phone call from a government official in Abossa (one of our sponsorship sites). Outside of this town, there had been massive flooding. Many houses were flooded, stored food was destroyed, and even some cattle drowned. I was given the opportunity to join Food for the Hungry and some government officials to visit the village. We were met with people in shock from what had happened. As we trudged through the water and mud we saw first hand the aftermath of the events that had taken place.

Although houses can be restored, the biggest loss was that of the food that is saved and rationed to last through the year. This food that was destroyed had been the previous season's crop. This crop was their livelihood and a devastating loss for the people. Apparently, this was not the first time for this village to be flooded. They were moved to this area during the government's relocation program about 4 years ago. I wonder what will happen as the long rains will be beginning in just a few months. Please pray for them as they rebuild once again and slowly recover. Also pray for creativity as FHI looks into working with the community to take preventative measures against disasters such as this in the future.

This is a photo of a man showing his ruined store of corn. the water level was over a foot in the little hut. The other photos below are from the flooded village that I uploaded while in Zeway.

P.S. It's now stopped raining and the sun is shining!