Harbu Chulule is located approximately 100 kilometres outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capitol city (GPS coordinates of Harbu Chulule are 37P (Zone) 417388 (Easting) 936767 (Northing)). Harbu Chulule is at an altitude of 2450 metres, or approximately 8000 feet.

The town experiences two primary seasons each year: rainy season, which extends from July – September, and dry season, which extends from November – February. The wet season will see up to 270mm of rainfall per month, whereas the dry season will see as little as 8mm of rainfall per month.

Corresponding to these seasons are the number of sunlight hours per day, with the maximum being ~9.7hrs/day in December, and the minimum being ~2.8hrs/day in July. Temperatures can reach as high as 25 degrees Celsius in the months of March – May, and cool down to 7 degrees Celsius in November – January.

The natural soils of the Harbu Chulule area are vertisols with high clay content. At this point, the soils have been overgrazed, overused, and have suffered from degradation due to deforestation. However, these soils have been proven fertile in areas in and around Harbu Chulule, particularly when organic matter is incorporated. Traditionally, crops that grow well in Harbu Chulule are teff, wheat, barley, and oats. With additional resources (i.e. water and sometimes greenhouses), onions, carrots, peas, beans, potatoes, false bananas, and maize can also grow quite well.

One of our sponsored women tends a Hopethiopia garden that is filled with healthy lettuce.