Water is scarce in Bensa and people are going without it. Women and children spend hours daily walking to unprotected springs raising their risk of waterborne illnesses. We partnered with Lifewater to construct a well in Benza to provide clean water and transform two remote communities.

Bensa, Ethiopia is home to 250,727 people with most families living in traditional mud-thatched houses and rely on agriculture for their annual income. Water scarcity is what the communities deem their most significant problem. Water usage is extremely low, with the average household using only 12 gallons of water per day between five-six people.

The WHO recommends a minimum of 13 gallons per day per person to meet a human's basic needs like hydration and hygiene. This means that in Bensa, families are surviving off sips of water a day.

Women and children spend hours a day making trips to unprotected springs or rivers. Contaminated water is dangerous for everyone, but particularly children under the age of five. Their immune systems are still developing, and they aren't able to fight the illnesses like adults.

The good news is, waterborne illness is entirely preventable with access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. In partnership with 

 we are building a water well that provide a clean source of water for the community of Bensa in two of its villages: Chilaka Huleti and Chilaka Anidi.

Lifewater is a Christian organization dedicated to ending the global water and sanitation crisis. The organization spends an average of 3 years in the villages they serve, preparing each household and certifying them as healthy before the water point is constructed. A village is considered healthy when "90% of the village boasts Healthy Homes. When each household demonstrates that it practices five healthy habits like washing hands and drying dishes safely. Earning a 'Healthy Home' certificate and making their improvements official, entitles them to a new water point. Becoming a Healthy Village is a celebration and signifies the significant steps families have made together to take care of everyone’s health and well being.

Our givers are not only giving clean water to 500 people, but also education on how to prevent diseases best and create healthy households for brighter futures.

Water is scarce in Bensa and people are going without it. Women and children spend hours daily walking to unprotected springs raising their risk of waterborne illnesses.  We partnered with Lifewater to construct a well in Bensa to provide clean water and transform two remote communities. 

Bensa, Ethiopia

Lifewater International

Clean Water Bensa - Ethiopia

Miters, here is a Celebration Video produced just for you.  It follows a mother and her family and the impact that you made on their lives through giving your mite.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  Enjoy.

See a life and family changed by your generosity

Exciting update! Chilaka Huleti and Chilaka Anidi villages now have clean and safe drinking water. Woohoo! 


October Update - Clean Water in Bensa

Meet Bekelech. Bekelech and her husband, Damis, grew up in Ethiopia, where survival took precedence over education. They live with their five children in Chilaka Huleti village. Three times a day, Bekelech or her daughters would walk 1.5 miles to the village spring to gather contaminated, dirty water that would eventually make them sick. In Ethiopia, water-related illnesses are so common that families are accustomed to spending most of their income on treatment. 

Now Bekelech and her family have access to clean, safe water and can use their income to invest in their dairy farm business.  Through Project 29, our giving community is providing clean water to hundreds of families just like Bekelech’s - transforming their futures. Thank you! 


August Update - Bekelech

Marta Danigiso did not know what to expect when she moved from Hawassa, a city in central Ethiopia, to rural Chilaka Anidi village. What she found as she married and began raising her three children was a village with no clean water. Chilaka Anidi is a quiet village of 50 families. 

Each day, Marta gathers water at a spring near the root of a large tree. Domestic animals roam freely about the village and drink from the water, and it is highly contaminated. Despite her efforts to gather water early in the morning while the dirt is settled and the animals have yet to drink from it, she and her three boys still become ill, “The unsafe water has exposed us to different water-related diseases,” she said.

The high cost of treatment for water-related diseases is keeping the Danigisos and other families in poverty. Marta said that the money they have spent on medicine this year could have been saved to improve their home and well-being.

With safe water, Marta hopes to save time, money, and start a business churning and selling butter, “I hope to... send all of our children to a better school,” she said. Marta’s dreams of starting a business and sending her children to receive an education are those of so many parents in Chilaka Anidi.
