Drinking water for Shulki Village
Right next to Florensis Ethiopia in Koka lies the village Shulki, which consists of around 60 families. People mostly live in huts and there is no electricity or water supply. Florensis, together with the other cutting production companies, recently financed the main electricity connection. The first houses are currently connected to this network and this will bring major changes for Shulki.
The land on which Florensis Ethiopia produces cuttings was bought from people from this village at the time. A good relationship with this village is very important for our company. People live mainly from fishing on lake Koka and from agriculture. For good drinking water, people depend on the production companies. Florensis and its neighbour company are closest to the people from Shulki. Both companies had a water tap outside the fence where people can tap their water. For the tapping point at the neighbours, however, people - mainly children - have to cross a very busy road, where often (too) fast is driven.
Initiated by our Florensis Ethiopia General Manager: "Since 2019 Florensis Ethiopia started producing its own drinking water. This water is of a better quality than the water that people buy in stores here, the so-called ‘high land water".
"As we found that crossing the road is far too dangerous for children, we have now made a new tap with three cranes closer to the village. And on the same side of the road. The village is very happy with this. One of our guards keeps an eye on things. The tapping point is closed at night to prevent improper use and for people to tap large quantities to resell. This is an example of a seemingly small project, but with a major impact on the community”.
The next step with the Shulki residents, is to use the residual water and rain run-off for irrigating their crops. A reservoir has been dug for this to feed a simple irrigation system to their fields. Approximately eight farmers can start to benefit from this and grow year-round higher-quality crops, such as onions and tomatoes. And Florensis has a good destination for the residual water.
