Geographical Location
Angar Guten Valley is located in the Oromia region, in Wollega East Zone, in the district of Gidda-Kiramu. It has an extension of 15,000 km2. To the south, it borders Nekemte, the main town of the area, which holds a population of around 80,000 and is located 331 km to the west from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.
The valley, at 1,380 m altitude, owes its name to the Angar River, which crosses the valley at its southern part, and to its main town, Guten.
- It has very fertile volcanic soil. The average of rainfall in the last 10 years has been 1,290 mm/year and the temperature ranges between 31°C maximum and 14°C minimum. It only rains during the rainy season, from April to September. During the dry season, from October to March, severe drought ravages the region, affecting the lives of population.
- The road that goes from Addis Ababa to Nekemte is almost complete, but it takes about 8 hours to cover the 331 km that separate the cities.
Beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of the Angar Guten Valley Integral Development Program are around 49,500 persons. The indirect beneficiaries are 85,000, which is the total population of Angar Guten Valley.
Background
The Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) was established in Kenya in 1989, in the district of Turkana, located in the northern part of the country and bordering Ethiopia. At the moment the MCSPA runs multiple projects related to health, nutrition, education, water and agriculture.
MCSPA Activities in Angar Guten Valley.
The Integral Development Program in Angar Guten includes the following activities:
Health Project:
- A clinic in Angar Akababi opened in 1993.
- A health post in Andode village opened in 1998.
- A health post in Fite Bako opened in 2000
Nurseries.
- A nursery was opened at Guten in 1996 and it provides education and food to 130 children.
- A nursery was opened at Gida in 2002 and it provides education and food to 170 children .
- A nursery was opened at Andode in 2005 and it provides education and food to 100 children.
Water resources
- Four rock dams built for getting water during the rainy season, which would be used for irrigation during the dry season.
- Manual wells at the nurseries and health posts.
- Creation of manual wells for families at Anode
Agriculture:
- Fruit trees and vegetable gardens at the three health posts and three nurseries.
- Cereal production during the rainy season in an area of about 5 hectares and a plantation of 2,500 fruit trees at Andode.
- Agricultural training for the villagers, distribution of fruit trees and vegetable seeds to the people attending the training courses; follow up of the family vegetables gardens and the fruit trees in the lands of the beneficiaries
Future plans
- Continue with all the activities
- Start a capacity building project for the mothers of the children in Guten nursery
- Set up ten vegetable gardens
- Fruit tree plantation and a small crop production to produce food for the children of the three nurseries run by the MCSPA at Angar Guten Valley.
