Translate page with Google

Story Publication logo March 16, 2008

Haramaya: Voices from a Vanished Lake

Authors:
Media file: 458.jpg
English

In Ethiopia and Kenya, dry seasons grow longer and tribal conflict over access to water is on the...

author #1 image author #2 image
Multiple Authors
SECTIONS
Media file: af_pic2.jpg

When Chala Ahmed won the U.S. visa lottery in the town of Haramaya in eastern Ethiopia, his first thought was to earn enough money in America to build his mother a home. The new house would be painted pink and sit behind a high white gate, and it would be built on the shores of Lake Haramaya, a nine-mile stretch of placid water that gave his hometown its name.

It took Ahmed, 26, almost eight years of long-haul trucking across the United States before his family's house was finished. He sent money home regularly, and relatives reported back on the progress.

Although Ahmed had been warned by friends and family that the lake was drying up, it was only last January that he traveled back to Ethiopia to see for himself how dramatically the landscape had changed.

RELATED TOPICS

yellow halftone illustration of an elephant

Topic

Environment and Climate Change

Environment and Climate Change
navy halftone illustration of a boy carrying two heavy buckets

Topic

Water and Sanitation

Water and Sanitation

Support our work

Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues