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The dry season is a deadly time of the year for the Borena people. They struggle to keep their cows alive, as they are their wealth, their future, and their pride. But there is little water and the pastures are usually bare of grass. Herders move their livestock around looking for something to eat as the dry wind whips the dirt into red dust devils, twisting silently hundreds of meters into the blue, cloudless sky.

In the area near Dubluq, Borena clans have wells with earthen ramps leading their cows down to flat areas with mud troughs so their animals can drink water passed up, bucket by bucket, by teams of men in a vertical chain, all singing to keep rhythm. These traditional eela wells, also called singing wells, are crucial in the dry season, and the clans have a schedule for which herds can access the wells on different days.

A well provides water, and song, for cows in Ethiopia’s dry season. Check out this video to see how Oxfam America helped one clan optimize their well to make it more efficient.