Workeye Tufa’s Story

Workeye Tufa, 34-years-old and a mother of two, leads a vibrant household in the Lume district of Oromia regional state. Being a widow forced Workeye to assume all household responsibilities alone. Yet again, she serves her local community at the district administration level.

Often praised by her community members for her hard work and readiness to embrace new things, Workeye was among the very first members of her community to construct an improved household latrine in her backyard. “It was very frustrating to dig holes every year as our household latrines were of unimproved type constructed with a wooden surface. It sometimes collapses suddenly,” she said. “Building household pit latrines every other year or two coupled with the continuous reparation works has led us to unwanted financial costs. This is in addition to constant suffering from various recurrent communicable diseases due to frequent spill over and leakage,” Workeye added.

It was during this tiring time that the FINISH (Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation & Health) Mondial Project came to the area introducing an innovative and cost-effective household sanitation facility. “Once I consulted with the experts on the innovative construction approach and its financial convenience, I did not think twice to accept this great opportunity,” Workeye said, as she emphasized the multifaceted opportunities presented by the FINISH Mondial Project in order to solve the local communities’ underlying sanitation problems.

The Project, which is implemented by Amref Health Africa and BBBC in the Oromia region, is envisaged enabling vulnerable households with proper sanitation facilities. By applying an innovative model, the project introduced a market based strategy where communities pay for safe sanitation facilities they get. “Thanks to the linkage created by the project with the Oromia Credit and Saving I was able to pay the loaned money on a monthly basis without affecting my livelihood,” Workeye said.