Martha Kastiro is a 49-year-old Secular Franciscan from Kanafa St. Francis fraternity in Ethiopia. Martha has 3 sons and 4 daughters. Her husband is a farmer and she stays at home looking after their little kids and cattle.
“Let me express my heartfelt gratitude to Well4Africa for making safe potable water available for us here in St. Francis parish. It was like a dream for us to have such a wonderful gift. We never thought that we would have safe water,” Martha says.
In Kanafa, women would rise early each morning to fetch water. They would spend hours walking to collect water for their daily needs. There were a lot of diseases in the village (such as typhoid, cholera and diarrhea) caused by using dirty water from swamps.
“When my children were sick, I would sometimes walk beyond the swamp to a neighboring community to fetch clean water. I had to walk for about an hour, then to spend an hour and a half waiting in line at the tap stand. The price to fill up a jerry can at this water point was very expensive. So, when our parish priest told us about Well4Africa water project, we didn’t believe it would happen – until we saw people actually constructing the water system. Now we have water just a few meters away from our houses! I have no words to express my joy except to say a heartfelt ‘Thank you’ for Well4Africa,” Martha thanks on behalf of the whole local community.
Kanafa people do not suffer from typhoid and diarrhea anymore. Children are able to spend more time concentrating on their studies instead of fetching water. Martha also says that she is very proud of being a Secular Franciscan. Because of this vocation her OFS fraternity has found new brothers and sisters who are willing to share goodness.
