FOTH Hudad ProjectsOverview and Status

May 2018

Ethiopia, located in the Horn of Africa, is a landlocked country of ~ 110 million

people. It is split by the Great Rift Valley and contains the headwaters of the Nile

river. With archaeological finds dating back more than 3 million years, it is a place of

ancient history and culture. Among its most important sites is Lalibela with the

ancient, hewn from rock, Christian churches of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Lalibela is a town of about 20,000 people in the Wollo zone of the Amhara region in

Northern Ethiopia. It is located at an altitude of ~ 2600 meters or 8500 feet and

the population is primarily Amharic speaking Ethiopian Orthodox Christian

Lalibela is a couple of hours walking downhill in this

direction…roughly Southwest and 2500 feet lower

Most of the villages and people being

served are scattered uphill along this trail

Eco-lodge guest house or Tukul.

Trekking tourists and FOTH workers

stay here

Eco-lodge main building and kitchen. We eat, socialize, and

generally enjoy hanging out here

Approximate site of school classroom and community buildings

This entire area is for Community Development

– school, water points, toilet block teachers

residences, gardens, etc.. This portion of the plateau

is at ~3300 meters or 10,800 feet elevation

Location of “School Reservoir” and gravity

feed pipeline to the school

School Building

May 2018

All the concrete and mortar is mixed on site by hand. Water, sand, and cement

are all hauled to the site by either donkeys or people

White and pink stone for the walls is quarried from

the ground nearby

Black stone for the foundations is hauled

mostly by the school kids from nearby locations

Getting the foundation dug and the stone and concrete

in place is back-breaking work

Walls continue to rise as tons of material are

transported, mixed, lifted, placed, and finished

Brick by brick was the motto of the Aussie and Brummie led masonry team

A couple of weeks of really hard labor and the team

works its way up to scaffolding, window, and

finally full wall height

Our “window” team came up with a really cool design to let lots of light into the school. They

built the frames, purchased the shatter resistant plastic, and assembled them in the US. The design allowed for the windows to be dis-assembled for transport to the Hudad and re-

assembled and installed there.

Roof trusses are built using locally harvested eucalyptus

poles. Plywood used for strength at the joints was hauled up the mountain

from Lalibela

Roof trusses were heavy and took a lot of folks to

place them up on top of the walls

Status at the end of Oct 2017 trip

Roof purlins and plywood sheathing installation

underway in May 2018

Spacers going on top of the plywood and metal

sheathing being finished up

Finished eave view and opening window installation

~20 simple 2-3 children metal and wooden desks

were built at the industrial arts training school in

Lalibela and hauled up to the School by community

members

Most of the May 2018 “foreigners” with the completed and occupied school

Here are some video links to School Construction Videos

Quarrying rock locally

Mortar mixing

Wall building

Truss construction

Roofing

Tour of the School inside

Toilet Block Construction

May 2018

Jennifer created this sketch of the toilet block and it was a wonderful tool to

communicate with the local people about various design elements. It is divided down the middle for male and female and has a privacy screening wall and outside hand

washing stations

This is during the initial layout of the toilet block. The guy in the red coveralls is the

local stone mason.

This is the point that was reached at the end of the May 2018 trip. The screening wall is

complete, the hand washing faucets are installed, and the pits for the composting

toilets are well underway.

Water System

May 2018

Currently most all of the families on the plateau obtain their water from

“undeveloped” springs. These springs flow from the ground. Typically the water is dipped out with a small container and

transferred to a “jerry” can. Animals can step in it and foul it with waste.

Prior water supply situation

Hauling water is Women’s work and in this case they are hauling the 20 liter jugs to the school construction site to produce concrete and mortar

Hauling beer for the Eco-lodge is apparently Men’s work

• #1 – Three springs and 25,000 liter or 6500 gallon upper reservoir

• #2 – 63mm or 2.5 inch water transfer pipe – 2.5 kms or 1.5 miles long

• #3 – Lower or “School” reservoir

• #4 – School and Community water stations

FOTH Water System Overview

25,000 liter masonry reservoir with mounting provisions for

solar panel array

One of three adjacent capped springs feeding into the upper reservoir

This dam and capping structure was built to retain the water running out

of the cliff, protect it from contamination, and provide a way to

channel it to the reservoir

Reservoir inlet pipe

Spring #1Spring #2

Spring #3

This “stock trough” provides access for local people and their

animals right below the reservoir. Turning the valve will

provide a great deal of water quickly

Reservoir drain and stock trough

Solar Installation Construction Photos – Oct 2017

Solar array is 8” X 24” - 16 panels at full power deliver maximum 2580 watts at 280 volts

Solar Controller & Wiring

Pump mount to secure in place

Power wire to solar controller

Pump inlet is above floor to prevent the intake of

sediment and debris

Tank level sensor that is wired to the

controller

Inside the upper reservoir with pump

installation

100 meter rolls of pipe being unrolled

and installed

Hand dug 2.5 km trench

Pipe from the upper reservoir

Reservoir inlet

This 25,000 liter or 6600 gallon reservoir sits above the school on the hill side and provides gravity pressure water

Outlet pipe with valve and strainer that

supplies the school site through the distribution

vault

Individual line valves

63mm main line

This plumbing vault was built to contain and protect the distribution valves and meters. It has a lockable steel cover and allows for water to be sent to the gardens, toilets, community water point, and any other future expansion. Community water monitors have the responsibility to record readings on a regular basis

Individual line meters

25mm supply lines

Telltale wet ground where the pump pressurized the

pipeline causing it to leak

The biggest challenge on the water system for the last trip was finding all the leaks in the pipeline. We worked for about 4-5 days doing nothing but finding

leaks, digging them up, and fixing them

This is a accidental pick-axe puncture where the pipe was to shallow as it passed through a

barley field that was hand plowed with a pick-axe

This is poor workmanship from the

contractor that was hired to help with the pipeline installation a couple of years ago

Conrad found this poorly installed joiner

in the pipeline that allowed the Eucalyptus

roots to encroach while seeking water

Here are some video links to Water System Videos

Pipe repair

First water pumped by solar power to the school reservoir

First water to flow at the school site

Kids playing with water

Longer water system description video