World Vision, an international relief and development agency, has worked in Ethiopia since 1971 when the country began experiencing major droughts and famines.

World Vision first came to the drought-hit Boreda Abaya district in 1987. World Vision workers gave food handouts to people facing starvation and then helped people restart food production. They gave them essential 'ag packs' (agricultural packs) of tools and seeds over several years.

World Vision staff consulted with village leaders and worked out how to address the difficulties that people in the district faced. They started the Saatusa Area Development Project (ADP) in 1991. Fourteen village areas bordering Lake Abaya began benefiting from new development activities in health and education, and food for work schemes. However the district continued to suffer from droughts - five in the last 15 years.

Since 1991 the project has grown to help 22 village areas in the lowland district of Boreda Abaya, and from 1998, 20 more village areas in the neighbouring highland Chencha district. Now the project serves a total population of 152,542 in 42 village areas. Most of the funding for the development work comes from child sponsors in New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

World Vision's development activities are planned to continue until the end of 2002. The focus is helping people improve their living circumstances and training them in business, resource and disaster management. Then they will be able to cope with seasonal changes without being devastated in bad years and will no longer need help from World Vision.

The people in Saatusa Area Development Programme, with help from World Vision, have accomplished these major developments from 1991 to 1999.

- Distributed 2.4 million seedlings of different kinds to families for planting
- Planted 558 kilometres of trees to improve environment
- Vaccinated 35,329 head of cattle
- Built three irrigation structures
- Constructed one veterinary clinic

- Constructed and furnished the first high school in Boreda Abaya, in Birbir
- Constructed and furnished 19 classroom blocks in several elementary (primary) schools
- Established two new elementary schools
- Provided basic school materials for 35,384 children and a school uniform for 35,719 children Health
- Built six new health posts
- Constructed and furnished two health clinics
- Drilled seven deep water wells

Thanks to these changes, a number of villages in Saatusa have coped well through the 2000 drought, growing or buying all the food they needed. Some other villages could only grow some of what they needed, so they required food distributions for about one third of their families.

World Vision purchases locally grown maize and distributes 12.5 kgs for every person in the family each month. When crops fail, farmers lose not just food but the seeds for their next harvest, so World Vision is supplying seeds so farmers can plant for the next harvest. This will continue until farmers can harvest enough food. Other villages are participating in World Vision Food for work schemes, earning food supplies for their labour on community building projects such as irrigation canals. They receive maize according to how much work they contribute