We are the entertainment of the day. They stand around with their bare feet on the reddish-brown soil speckled with small stones. To them, this is how life has always been. But Bizunesh, 40, remembers differently.
“The big problem here for us as a community is climate change,” she tells us. “It is getting warmer and warmer to the point of affecting the lives of our cattle.” Wiping away tears, she pauses. “Our cattle are dying.”
In Ethiopia, as well as many other countries, climate change is becoming the leading contributing factor to poverty. Decades worth of positive results are being cancelled out in a couple of years. For the first time in decades, hunger is on the rise.
Through Tearfund, you’re helping families adapt. “Only those who took the farming training had their crops survive the recent climate effects.” Bizunesh says. The evidence is painfully visible. We view a farm using traditional farming methods next to one using conservation agriculture. Crops from the former are yellow and a foot high, while the latter is green and over 3 feet tall!
Although more needs to be done, adaptation techniques like these provide families living in poverty a fighting chance. Bizunesh is one of them. “I am so thankful. May God bless you! WE will be praying for you,” she says as we leave.
