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|  | | Rainwater Harvesting Dam, Eritrea | | A group of local farmers are not the only ones in the mountain town of Halhal in Eritrea’s Keren Province to be grateful for a timely intervention by Self Help in the locality.
For the organisation’s decision to take over a rainwater harvesting dam project on the main approach to the town has had a massive positive impact on the lives of people right across the community of 25,000 people in the area.
‘The dam was one of the principal sources of water for the town, but it was leaking badly and was storing just a fraction of the 270,000 cubic litre capacity that it has today’, explains project manager Basilios Sagay. A programme of repairs were started to the dam wall in 2000, while in the years since then Self Help has helped the community to build a drinking well, and develop a seven hectare irrigated horticultural plot.
The irrigated plot, with more than 400 metres of cement built channels and sluice gates has been sub-divided into irrigated plots for 14 local farmers, who have been growing tomato, potato, hot pepper, okra, swiss chard, lettuce, cabbage and onion since its development.
And the benefits of this are only seen in the improved living conditions of the 14 beneficiary families, for it has also resulted in a wide array of seasonal vegetables becoming available to the wider community in Halhal’s market for the first time.
‘In the past the people of this area didn’t use a great deal of vegetables in their diet, as those that were brought here had to be transported from Keren more than 46 kms away, and as a result they were quite expensive for local people’, says Basilios Sagay.
The benefit of the dam re-development project is most pronounced for local livestock farmers however, and a recent examination of usage showed that several thousand livestock owners in the catchment area were now watering their animals at the Halhal dam.
‘In the past this was not possible because the rainwater that was being blocked by the dam was only lasting for the few months of the Summertime rainy season, but now there is water here all year around, and local farmers who had to travel long distances in search of water for their animals can find it nearby’. |
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| Several other farmers in the locality have become engaged in irrigated farming since the intervention too, with a number having taken out loans to purchase small water pumps to assist with the irrigation of their property.
‘In an area such as Halhal there are only seasonal rivers, and the chances of finding water underground are extremely limited’, says Self Help’s project manager. ‘Rainwater is by far the best option, and to be able to store run-off from the surrounding hillsides is the most cost effective and the most practical way to address water needs’.
Basilios Sagay says that the local community have a hugely important role to play in the activities too, as the terraced stone walls and check dams which are seen dotting the hillsides are all built with local voluntary labour – to serve the multiple purposes of diverting rainfall into the dam pond, to retain top soil on the hillside during the often torrential rains, and to thus prevent the rapid silting of the pond itself. | | Related Topics | | | | | |
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| | | | | Self Help Africa is a limited liability company. Company number: 105601 Charity No. 6663 (Ireland)
The organisation has offices in Ireland at: Annefield House, Dublin Road, Portlaoise, Co. Laois Tel: 00 353 (0)57 8694034 - Fax: 00 353 (0)57 8694038, and in the United Kingdom at : Second Floor Suite, Westgate House, Dickens Court, Off Hills Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1QU. Tel : 0044-(0)1743 277170
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