One lives to find out

Building day 2

Today we completed building the concrete platform upon which our polytank and blue drums will stand. We began the day with a trip to the market to fetch some supplies, namely the three blue 250 L drums. We somehow managed to fit both the supplies and ourselves in our small truck and began the journey to Kpaniyili. Once we arrived, we unloaded the drums from the truck bed and replaced them with about 10 villagers, all of whom agreed to help us finish building the stand. Several others followed suit on their bicycles and together we all ventured to the designated spot where we had begun building yesterday. The people of Kpaniyili had already filled the stand, so cementing remained the only step left in the construction process.

We watched as the mason went to work, combining sand, gravel and water to make the cement. Once the mixing process was complete, we covered the top and sides of the stand with a thick layer of this hand-mixed cement. Everyone reached in and grabbed a handful, including ourselves, but the villagers were much better at laying the cement than we were. Nevertheless, determined to contribute, we continued to try. If anything, our efforts served as a great source of entertainment and many of the men got a good laugh. Once the entire structure had been cemented and smoothed over, our translator and each CWS Fellow carved his or her name into the top. Several of the men assisting us placed their handprints alongside our names – a symbolic tribute to the cooperation and collaboration of efforts that went into this entire process.

Building day 1

Thursday was market day for our village so we had the day off. I had an eventful day of washing clothes in the sink, going for a run and getting a record number of strange looks (nobody here exercises) and going to the pool. Once we arrived at the pool, we quickly realized that the translators who had accompanied us did not know how to swim. Never did I think that I would be teaching 20-somethings how to swim, particularly while in Africa. Later that night, we went out as a group to celebrate the birthdays of two Fellows, Caitlin and Mark, at a place called Everglow. I will say that the places in Tamale have the greatest names.

Today we began building the stand upon which our water tanks will stand. A large group of men gathered to help us pick a spot for the stand and help us build. All in all, it took about half an hour to build. It’s amazing how efficient the villagers are at their work. It was also amazing to me that the men, particularly because they are older, paid little attention to the other girls and me. When we tried to help, they would step in and take over. It definitely speaks to their view on women in general; in their eyes, women are wives and mothers, and their duties reside in the household. Many of the men in these villages have multiple wives and, to be honest, do very little compared to all of the hard work these women do. A woman’s duties range from fetching water, to gathering firewood, to cooking meals, to taking care of all of the children. Just an interesting observation I made today.

That does not, of course, take away from how I feel about our village in general; this is just how life is and has been for as long as these villagers can remember and I cannot fault them for that. Despite these observations I made, I really like the elders and all the men that we have worked with thus far. And of course the kids are adorable. I spent a good portion of the morning teaching a group of kids the macarena. Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. Apart from the adorable children and hilarious men and hard-working women, one thing that I have noticed about our village is the extraordinary sense of community. Without the constant static of technology, these families have the opportunity to come together and form a community much more cohesive than anything I have previously witnessed. We’ve already established a great relationship and I look forward to working with them for the next few weeks (these kids will be macarena machines by the end of this trip)

Chief meeting

As planned, today we met with the village chief and all of the elders. The elders are a group of about twenty men, each of them between the ages of 50 and 70 years old. They make all decisions in the village and are highly respected amongst the villagers. While we waited for the entire group to gather, TJ helped translate a conversation with some of the teenagers that had made their way over to us. We found out that the village has a school, which means we will be able to help some of the children with their English while we are working with them.  

Once the entire group had arrived, we performed a ceremonial exchange with these nuts called kola nuts. In this ceremony, we presented the chief with two nuts; he then passed them around the circle and everyone bit off a small piece to chew. It is a commonly performed ritual during village exchanges, and helps to establish a relationship with the group of elders. During our meeting, we explained the concept of CWS and how we had come to provide the village with clean, safe drinking water. We discussed the set up, maintenance, and continual monitoring of the systems, as well as everything we would need in order to complete the process. We made sure to emphasize that we valued their input and would design the system to tailor the needs of their particular village. Furthermore, we informed them that all materials needed to construct the water systems had been bought, and that we would be able to set everything up at no cost to the village (side note: each team had to raise $10,000 in order to participate in the Fellowship and every penny goes towards these systems that we build).

The chief told us that a few groups had previously visited the village and attempted to construct water pipes, but the projects had failed and these groups never returned. Needless to say, the elders all seemed hesitant and unwilling to trust us at first. We explained that we would only work with the existing water supply and simply make it cleaner and healthier to drink. There will be no pipes or other equipment with the potential to break. They asked several thoughtful and perceptive questions, both to us and amongst themselves. Once we cleared up these details, however, everyone seemed very excited about the idea and told us that they would like us to start as soon as possible. Tomorrow, most of the village will be traveling to the market, so we start building on Friday. Words can’t even describe how excited I am. I didn’t even mind the inch-thick layer of dust that covered my entire body by the time we arrived back home.

Kpaniyili day

Today was the day we finally visited our new village! From today on, my team will be working in Kpamiyili, a village about 2 hours south of Tamale. The road quickly changed from pavement to dirt, so we were completely covered with brown dust by the time we arrived in our village. During the dry season, the winds change and bring all the dust from the Savannah south; countries just below the belt, such as Ghana, are pummeled with dust in the same way Waterville is with snow. By the end of the day, I’m usually covered in a nice layer of brown, which makes me think I am tanner than I actually am. Being in the bed of a truck under such circumstances, however, exacerbated this whole dust situation. By the end of our 2-hour ride, I looked like Snookie.

Keeping in mind how good we all look, we approached a group of men in the village and told them that we would like to talk with them about a potential project. The chairman came forward and introduced himself, then invited us to sit under a tree with some of the other village elders. We introduced ourselves and again told them we were there to complete a water project for their village. We also mentioned that, in order to complete such a project, we wanted to discuss the idea with the chief and elders in a more formal meeting. By this point, about 30 people had circled around us and eavesdropped on the English-Dagbani conversation we had going. As soon as we mentioned “kohn,” the Dagbani word for water, they immediately became more animated and began talking to one another excitedly.

The chairmen then climbed into the truck with us and took us to their dugout, which was about 2 kilometers away from where we had gathered. To think that women typically make 6-8 trips to this source every single day just to get water completely blows me away, especially when I consider how annoyed I get when Dana runs out of cups or when I have to walk all the way across Miller to fill my waterbottle. Along the way, the chairman told us about the water source and how it typically operated. He said that they shared it with a village equidistant from the dugout but in the opposite direction. We soon came to what looked like a small pond, filled with women collecting water and washing clothes, children splashing, cows bathing, and lots of murky water. We brought samples back to the lab in hopes that we will be able to show them examples of all the bacteria currently growing in their water when we meet with the chief tomorrow.

For all you Colby kids out there: we went to the market this afternoon, and I ran into Lauren Corke shopping with her brother. She is doing Peace Corps in Ghana for two years and happened to be doing some additional training around Tamale this week. Talk about a small world.