After the success of the Health Clinic, the government supplied a full time nurse to work in the clinic. Because there was no-one in the surrounding villages who was qualified for this job, a nurse was brought in from another region of the Afar. This created a new challenge, as the nurse did not have a house to live in.

NURSES HOUSE - PROJECT SUMMARY 2006-2013

In early 2006, on request by the community and the nurse who had been stationed in the HP since 2005, Barefoot Initiative built a small house for the nurse to live in. The nurse who was employed from outside of the community had been living inside the clinic and had been challenged with maintaining his privacy and personal hygiene.

It was mutually decided that having a separate private dwelling for the nurse was essential to ensure that the nurse would remain in the community, and also attract future employees to the HP. 

The nurse's house was completed in early 2006 using local building techniques making it easy for the community to maintain. The construction consisted of a wooden frame from plantation and local timbers, a tin roof and mud walls.

2013 update

On return to the community in 2013, a new goverment clinic with a new nurses house adjoined to it had been constructed. Our nurses house, which had stood strong for 7 years was looking worse for wear, with much of its framework destroyed by white ants. We knocked it down, and recycled salvageable materials for renovations on the old clinic.