Wollega, Ethiopia:

In September 2018 inter-communal violence erupted in Kamashi zone of Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region in western Ethiopia, due to tension between the Gumuz community and ethnic Oromo and Amhara Ethiopians. 

The result was injury, death and destruction—and damage to public infrastructure--with close to half a million people displaced by January 2019, many left without access to basics such as water, food and shelter.

The government of Ethiopia began a process of peacebuilding and return, which allowed many internally displaced persons (IDPs) to move back to their homes or places of origin.

IOM has been supporting the affected communities since displacement took place, and 80-year-old Ato (Mr.) Tesfaye Gete, a returnee, living in Oromia region, East Wollega zone is one of its beneficiaries.

An elder in the community, Ato Tesfaye, sustained leg injuries while fleeing clashes that erupted in his village. Today he is disabled.

Unable to work, and with no source of livelihood save some rental income from a small piece of farmland earning him 500 Ethiopian Birr, or just $15 US dollars a year, this father of one lives hundreds of miles away from his only son, who neither visits nor helps financially. Ato Tesfaye must fend for himself.

Tesfaye has been forced to live, as he has now for years, with the indignity of requiring help just to visit the latrine. He cannot move freely around his plot.

IOM found Ato Tesfaye while identifying the most vulnerable displaced people in his zone. After verifying his condition, IOM enrolled Ato Tesfaye in a sanitation programme, which included the donation of a sanitary wheelchair.

IOM water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) team identifies those most in need, like Tesfaye, during hygiene promotion sessions, that have been ongoing since 2017. IOM works together with protection specialists and government officials.

During these sessions outreach hygiene promoters identify people with specific needs, including those with physical disabilities that might be alleviated with wheelchairs.  Over 100 wheelchairs and hygiene kits have been distributed to other vulnerable people in Wollega.

Ato Tesfaye is very grateful for IOM’s help, despite he and others like him requiring additional assistance.

He says receiving the wheelchair has changed his life as he no longer depends on others to go to the toilet, or to leave his home.

“To buy such a wheelchair had been my dream for a long time but it was not possible due to a lack of money or support from others,” said an elated Mr. Tesfaye.

Many people in Ethiopia remain without access to safe and adequate sanitation, in addition to lack of access to safe water, which calls for continued support. During the handover of the wheelchairs, IOM staff observed measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and distributed some hygiene items to the beneficiaries.

This initiative to distribute wheelchairs to the vulnerable is made possible through the financial support of the Government of Japan and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (EU-ECHO).