Over 2,000 Ethiopian elementary school students will soon get access to clean water thanks to five newly donated atmospheric water generators.
The generators were donated last month by the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute of Tsinghua University (CALDI-THU), HurRain NanoTech, and China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD, formerly known as China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation) to five selected elementary schools in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region of Ethiopia.
HurRain NanoTech, founded by Lin Tengyu, a PhD student at Tsinghua University, is a tech company committed to providing innovative solutions to solve shortages of clean water and energy, as well as tackle global warming. With the support of CALDI-THU and CFRD, the company designed a prototype air-water generator to meet the local climatic conditions and energy consumption requirements and set up production lines working overtime to produce the equipment.
The generators can absorb moisture in the air to produce drinking water. It’s the first time such machines have been introduced to Ethiopia, bringing tangible benefits to local people.
The African nation is facing its worst drought in decades. The lack of rainfall has created a severe humanitarian crisis in areas suffering from the cumulative impact of regional conflicts, climate change, desert locusts and the Covid pandemic.
“Such equipment is perfect for the climate of the southern state and generates safe water for children to drink. Ethiopia is suffering from drought and water shortages. These high-tech zero-waste machines will be of direct help to schools and communities,” said Roman Tesfaye, former first lady of Ethiopia.
