Weyessa McAlister is now a grown man in America, but still thinking about back home in Ethiopia. <\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe determined young man was a junior at Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts when he came up with a plan to combat the issue in his native land. A few years earlier, however, McAlister was a 13-year-old boy who was learning to adjust to a foreign country. His journey in America started with homeschooling, a plan designed to help the young man catch up with the rest of his American peers in academics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
English was particularly a challenge for McAlister, who barely learned a bit of the language when he stayed at the orphanage in Addis Ababa. It was some of the volunteers at the orphanage who introduced a few English words to the children. But most others at the facility used Oromiffa or Amharic, two Ethiopian languages McAlister still speaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
McAlister became more comfortable with his new home as he progressed through high school. But he was still uncomfortable with the persistent issue back in East Africa. So he embarked on a mission to bring clean water to his hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step? Create a GoFundMe account and raise about $6,000 to buy \u201ca bunch of portable water filters.\u201d The next step? An unforgettable journey back to Aje in 2015. Making the trip back to his birthplace, the high school student personally delivered the filters and demonstrated how to use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had a large assembly in my village where I demonstrated how these water filters work and gave one filter per household,\u201d McAlister said. \u201cI brought my tools to show them how it\u2019s done and also set it up for everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The relieved Oromia residents still use bali<\/em>, the same buckets they always used to carry water. But now, thanks to their hero, the village members also get to attach filters to the buckets, making their water much safer to consume and use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n