Local business raising money for clean water in Ethiopia
PRINCE GEORGE – Rikki Patterson’s business Scarves for Hope combines two things she is passionate about: her love of crocheting, and her desire to help create easy access to clean water in Ethiopia.
“They’re in desperate need of clean drinking water, which is something that most people don’t have. We take it for granted here. We turn on our taps, water comes out, we can drink it, we don’t have to think about it. But in southern Ethiopia, they get their water from streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, pools that are contaminated with, dangerous bacteria that make them very, very sick. And this is all they have to drink, they don’t have the options that we do for getting clean water,” Patterson explained.
Her business started seven years ago when Patterson travelled to Ethiopia with the Hope International Development Agency to see the situation in person. The Hope International Development Agency is focused on delivering easily accessible clean water to communities around the world, and Patterson specifically donates to the Agency’s efforts in Gofa, Ethiopia.
“I just felt that I wanted to do more, that I wanted to help in a bigger way. I already had the hobby of crocheting and I had started making scarves, so I just decided I would turn that into a fundraiser,” Patterson said, when explaining how her business started.