After several days of walking, Alessandra Radaelli and her team reached the villages where projects are working towards the provision of safe drinking water and improved food security via farmer training and irrigation.

Back in December 2006 a team from Mission East travelled to the villages in the mountainous area to assess the need for help. They were met by a shocking sight; the children's stomachs were swollen from malnutrition, the lack of clean drinking water was causing high incidence of basic preventable diseases and the population was unaware of basic hygiene practice to prevent illness.

Among other things, Mission East is currently building and repairing clean drinking water systems. Because of the work more than one thousand people will have access to clean drinking water by the end of the summer. The project is made possible thanks to our supporters and the AEC Fond.

Mission East will continue the work in the Karnali Zone with new funding. Among other things the population is in need of better agricultural knowledge to be able to grow food for themselves that will enable them to eat all year round without a 'food gap'.

See more pictures from the villages in Karnali
Read more about the assessment in Karnali here

May 2008