Sanitary Renovation of the Hospital of Gambo, Ethiopia

Project location: Ethiopia, Gambo
Project start date: January 2013 - Project end date: May 2013
Project number: 2012-110
Beneficiary: Associazione Amici di Filippo Onlus

The project's aim is the sanitary renovation of the hospital complex of Gambo (Ethiopia) which, especially in the rainy season, is almost regularly invaded by the black waters that flow from the drainage pits located inside the hospital park, now saturated and therefore no longer efficent.
In addition the project intends, where possible, to recover the sewage waste water to be used for the irrigation of tree crops, after phytodepuration.

At present, the sewage of the hospital is stocked in by-now saturated dispersion pits located inside the hospital complex, which emanate bad smells and, especially during the rainy season, use to overflow into the hospital park where patients waiting to be seen are camped and sometimes invade the village below.
The project involves the collection of hospital waste waters upstream of the three old dispersion pits, now saturated, and the conveying of the drain water into the main sewer, which will carry it underground, all through the village below, from the hospital directly to the phytodepuration ditch.
The main sewer is going to be five hundred metres long and will run under the side road of the village itself and, in addition to the three wells connecting to the old sewers, it will have five manholes along the route for each of the phytodepuration ditch. This sewer is designed to be able to withstand other future sewer connections such as the drain water from the mission in Gambo or the village houses.
Once the water will be purified it can be used during the dry season to irrigate the farm crops of the mission.
The chronology of the construction of the entire project involves first of all the construction of the phytodepuration pit, including the drainage system, and the planting out of the plants for the purification of waters, which will be "false banana trees" (Ensete ventricosum). The next step will be the excavation for the main sewer and its installation, and at the end all the hospital sewer drainpipes will be connected.
Under the new system, all the waste will be picked up and carried with underground piping, downstream of the village; the health situation will be improved both within the hospital and in the village.
The timing of realization is expected to take about three months, work beginning in January and ending in March. In the first month the phytodepuration ditch will be realized , in the second month the main sewer will be made and finally in the third month the sewage pipes will be connected, thus discarding the old dispersion pits.

The Mission of Gambo started in 1922 in the Arsi district of Oromia Region (Southeastern Ethiopia), by the French Capuchin Fathers. Gambo is located 250 km South-East of the capital Addis Abeba.
From l972 the Mission of Gambo is entrusted to the Missionaries of Consolata and includes, among other things, the Hospital and the Village of Lepers.
The Hospital of Gambo assists the population of the entire province of Arsi, which is about 75.000 inhabitants. It is a rural area located 2.200 meters above sea level, the city closest to Gambo is Arsi Neghele which is 18 km away and can be reached only by a forest track.
The hospital has 135 beds, distributed in various departments: Internal Medicine, 21 beds; Tuberculosis, 18 beds, Leprosy, 46 beds; Surgery, 8 beds, Gynecology and Obstetrics, 12 beds, Pediatrics, 30 beds.
It also has the following services: Clinic, Pharmacy, Radiology - Ultrasound Laboratory and clinical analysis.
A specific team takes care of vaccination and prenatal attention in 23 villages, with a total population of 75.720 inhabitants.