Gimbie Adventist Hospital (GAH) is located in Gimbie, a highland town in the West Wollega Zone of Ethiopia. The hospital serves a population of subsistence farmers and scrappers who do their buying and selling on less than 1 USD a day. While they answer that scarcity with resourcefulness, when things are that tight small problems and setbacks can be stretched into things much larger, scarier things. A bit of rain or too much sun can mean less food on a table and an illness, because of a cup of bad water, can mean the same or worse.
It's that last situation that GAH is taking a step towards solving. An organization called Potters for Peace developed a method for creating family-sized water filters in response to similar conditions in Nicaragua in the late 1980's. The water filters are made up mostly of materials that can be found commonly; primarily clay and sawdust. After going the process of trial and error to find a method that worked they decided to share the potential for clean water by providing the information and technical details of how to manufacture these water filters. GAH is in the beginning stages of putting together a manufacturing plant.
In mid-September I'll be going there to help however I can. I'll be there for 8-10 months and while I'll probably work on other projects at the hospital my I'll spend most of my time on the water filter project. The hospital functions on a slim budget that doesn't have enough excess to pay for my plane ticket or my expenses while I'm there which means I have to find money for my ticket, for food, and for other essentials while I'm there. Out of this need sprouted the idea for The Journals.
In mid-September I'll be going there to help however I can. I'll be there for 8-10 months and while I'll probably work on other projects at the hospital my I'll spend most of my time on the water filter project. The hospital functions on a slim budget that doesn't have enough excess to pay for my plane ticket or my expenses while I'm there which means I have to find money for my ticket, for food, and for other essentials while I'm there. Out of this need sprouted the idea for The Journals.
