Weresech and her husband Gebreegziabhare own 0.5 ha of land, which is not sufficient to produce enough grain and feed the entire family during a whole year. For that and to be able the send the 3 older children to school, both must work outside of their farm. Their farm is adjacent to our intervention site and Weresech is delighted to have, since 2017 a regular job with WeForest, contributing with site preparation, planting, weeding and watering the new seedlings.

Between July 2017 and January 2018 she earned about 1200 ETB from the project, which is enough to pay for school and part of their health expenses. Proudly she said “I have directly planted and cared for over 250 new trees last year “ and she is looking forward to working again during the next season, between July and January.

Weresech was also very excited about joining our new beekeeping program for farmers and said «I am lucky to have been chosen for this programme and sell the honey our beehives produce with good price through our cooperative». She and all the villagers involved start seeing the benefits for their farmand and settlement areas since the Seret ‘exclosures’ are protected from grazing and illegal logging. They can now harvest grass, the soils are better protected from erosion and landslides when it rains.