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Tadesse's Life Story
Tadesse is 44, married with 6 children. He farms 2.5 hectares of land. He is a kebele (village) leader and also acts as secretary for the SUNARMA group 'Fateyuma' (Against Poverty). He was born in Koreyo village and attended school until 6th Grade. At age 28 he was forced under the Derg regime to join the military for two years. On his return he got married, started a family and worked hard to farm his land. However, in 1997 he was again forced to join the military because the productivity of his land was so low he couldn't generate enough money to support his family. However, he believes that his experience in the military and exposure to other areas made him reflect on his situation. He decided try and save money during his second military service and in four years managed to save 4000 birr. After this he came back to his family and began farming again. During this time SUNARMA came to the area and he got involved in the project. Tadesse says that through training he has learned better farming techniques, he has also received sheep, the offspring of which he will pass on to other group members. Previously he was considered poor and his family were dependent on relief but due to assistance from SUNARMA he has improved his families quality of life which makes him feel excited for the future.
However, this year he was affected by the drought, along with others in the kebele. As a kebele leader he reports that out of 600 households only 6 have food available currently, the majority are in need of assistance but this has been in short supply. Vitamin food has been provided for women and children by WFP (World Food Programme) but there has been little other means of support. As a result people have been forced to sell livestock and possessions in order to buy food and often end up resorting to taking loans from rural creditors in order to survive. Tadesse was one of the people in the project area who received seed from the SUNARMA emergency seed distribution. He says that not only his group benefited from these efforts but also their neighbours, 189 people in total. They received local varieties of teff and vetch, and the seed has performed well because fortunately there has been enough rain. However, the current period is critical and people are reliant on enough rain falling in order for the crops to reach maturation stage.
Tadesse says that he has experienced two major droughts during his lifetime, the first was the drought of 1984 and the second was this year. He believes that due to training from the government, and NGO's such as SUNARMA, people are becoming more aware of the causes of such droughts, particularly the effect that people have on the environment and natural resources. He says this year people were not as badly affected as in 1984 because they have learned from previous experiences, however, this year has also been a learning experience. After the SUNARMA seed distribution the community have decided, with assistance from SUNARMA, to design a system for collecting and saving seed to protect themselves against such situations in the future. They also plan to make loan credit available.
Tadesse is hopeful, but he is also concerned about the future. He is particularly concerned that his children don't experience the same hardships as him. His main dreams are for his family to have access to clean water, electricity, transport and health care.
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