Today they got water from a tap

Friends,

This is your EWB President, Andy Schriner, having just returned from Kenya from our first ever trip to implement a project. This project was the water distribution system for the ~500 people of the Otho Abwao community in southwestern Kenya, who previously relied on a very laborious foot pump for their only source of clean drinking water. Now, thanks to the solar panels, electric pump, two storage tanks, several kilometers of pipe, and 5 water access kiosks EWB installed, the people of Otho Abwao can get water in less time with less effort, which we expect will improve health in the community, improve school attendance as children are freed from the burden of collecting water, and create more time for community members to engage in valuable economic activity and move themselves up the ladder out of poverty.

There are a lot of angles to take on this momentous occasion. I'll start with a brief recap of the trip, then I'll throw in some of my reactions and experiences, and then I'll try to put this into the context of my personal journey with EWB. You can look forward to blog posts from the other travelers in the near future.

The team of six students consisting of myself, Emily Stover, Neil Schaner, Liesbet Michiels, Kevin Knollman, and Jordan Vogt, and our wonderful faculty mentor Dr. Dan Oerther, arrived in Nairobi on the night of Sunday, 3/15. The additional team members of Mike Morarity and Ely Dixon were scheduled to arrive four days later on 3/19. On Monday, 3/16, we drove to Otho Abwao, arriving in the evening, excited to find two large ferrocement tanks built by Nelson Amolo, a local contractor, where before there was just a field. Most of our materials arrived on a truck the next day, and over the next several days we worked together with the water technicians the community had chosen to get the pipes laid, connections made, and kiosks installed. Emily was able to conduct health surveys in a number of households, even more than she had anticipated. There was something of a snag in the construction process, though: the pump and 2 of 7 solar panels were held up at the Nairobi airport in customs due to a tax issue with the vendor. We worked to finish as much as we could without those key parts, and by Saturday it was decided that someone needed to stay longer than originally planned to supervise the installation of the pump and panels. Dan, being the dedicated professional he is, volunteered, saying he thought it best that he be the only one to stay to fit the last pieces into the puzzle. With everyone agreeing that Dan was more than capable of finishing the job solo, arrangements were made for him to stay through the rest of the next week. On, Sunday, 3/22, the last full day before we left Otho Abwao, we held a community meeting during which we discussed the importance of the community's taking ownership of the system, not making changes or additions to the pipe network, and not using water extravagantly, and during which the water technicians explained the system to the community in their own language. Ely was scheduled to carry out the health education programs for the school children and adults on Monday, 3/23, and she and Mike were scheduled to travel across the border to Tanzania later that week to collect information for future EWB projects there. Also on Monday was the planned departure of the first team from Otho Abwao; the six students said their goodbyes and set off, with Dan accompanying so that he could personally ensure the procurement of the missing pump and solars panels in Nairobi. On Wednesday, 3/25, Dan sent a text message to the US, saying, "We have water!" (meaning the pump had been installed and the tanks were being filled). By this time the remaining members of the travel team are making their way back to the US, and we can all look forward to their additional updates.


In terms of my reactions and experiences, there are all kinds of things I could say. I don't think there's a good way to organize everything, so here's a list in no particular order:

• I've certainly learned a great deal from this experience, with no small amount of the learning coming from my own mistakes. Some say that's what mistakes are for, and while I certainly will make use of my mistakes for their educational value, at the same time it's still frustrating to have things not go as well as they otherwise could have. Ah, such is life.
• "TIA" - We throw this phrase around a lot in EWB. If you've seen the movie Blood Diamond or been around EWB much, you might know that it stands for "This Is Africa". It basically means that things in Africa don't really work the same way we expect them to in the West. Like the solar panels and pump being stuck in the airport in customs for the entire duration of our planned stay in Otho Abwao. Like when someone asks at 2:30 pm when the driver will be back from town with our drinking water, seeing as how we are completely out and are working on the equator, and the driver says one hour, and isn't back till 5:30 pm. Also, like when a newly trained and empowered water technician offers to give you a small hen to remember him by. Or when an old "mama" grabs you genially by the wrist, and through a translator, inquires as to whether your mother is still alive, and when hearing the answer is yes, asks you to say hello for her. I'm just barely scratching the surface here. Dan could probably write a book called TIA.
  
• Speaking of the water technicians: I was caught a little off guard by the level of engagement and understanding and quality of questions they were asking. It was an excellent surprise.
• Two words: camp shower.
• I think it should probably be noted that the fact that one of Kenya's official languages is English is a huge help in our work. That means we can communicate directly with the technicians, and when we do need a translator for Kiswahili or Luo, there are translators all around.
• I don't think the relationship with the community as partner and customer was emphasized enough throughout this whole process. Sometimes it's too easy for designers to go off behind closed doors (or "behind" 8000 miles of physical separation) and create something, in this case a water distribution design, that fits into their ideas and expectations of the context of use. What we forget, and what I learned to a greater extent on this trip, was that people will live their lives the best way they know how, and if that means using a designed object in a way different from what the designer intended, then so be it. I don't think this particular design will be used in a way that is wildly different from the intention of the particular designers (i.e. the students of EWB), but perhaps with a greater emphasis on collaboration, the experiences and knowledge of the community members could have helped guide the design to a higher level of overall quality.
• Working on a very tight schedule, in a different culture and a very different place, doing a task with which you have no previous experience as things change and go wrong, while living, working and eating with your colleagues, is exhausting. Make no joke about it.
• I think all of us who traveled were looking forward to seeing the moment with our own eyes when the people of Otho Abwao first drew water from the new system. I think we were all likewise a little disappointed to have to leave before seeing that. We have to keep in mind, however, that we're not in this for the feel-good photo op. We're in this to make a difference - and that's what we've done. At the same time, I'm very happy for Dan that he had the opportunity to see that moment.
  
• 500 people in Kenya now have much easier access to clean drinking water thanks to the hard work and support of many, many people. Thanks to you all - you've done a good work.

Lastly, and I know this is turning into a novel...

It's a strange feeling to be where I am now, having co-founded this chapter of EWB at UC some four years ago, having participated as an engineer in the design of this project, having worked as President to put all of the various other pieces in place to make this project successful, and now having just returned from the implementation trip that marks the first tangible step that this organization has made to fulfill its mission of improving quality of life for those in developing communities. A part of me wants to make a neat, tidy conclusion out of it. It's done, right? Water is flowing. But to do that would be to miss the point of what EWB does, and what makes EWB different from other aid organizations. For us, the Otho Abwao water project has just begun. We have health monitoring to continue; we have school attendance records to check to see if more kids are attending. We have to support our partners there in the operations and maintenance of their system. We have to check back and see how they are using it, how it's affected their community, and how we can do things better in the future. We have to do things better in the future on new projects. There's a great deal of work left to do. I hope you'll continue with me on the journey.