EWB Football Team: Final Score 7-7

Here's my first in a series of short stories & reflections on the trip...  One of the highlights of the Spring trip for me was our final day with the school.  With most of our work like health surveys and school assessment winding down, and the last little bit waiting on supplies Charlie & Jimmy were getting in Kisumu, we had a chance to spend the last day with the kids.

Safa had bought a football (soccer) ball in the Amsterdam airport, and finally managed to buy a pump for it in Kisumu. We saved this big reveal for the last day.  Once he reached into his bag and pulled out the inflated ball(no branded with a sharpie C-paw) the kids gave out a collective cheer.  After running around the field a few times chasing the ball in a mob, some order set in.  Every 10 minutes, two more teams of students would switch out playing each other.
This was all leading up to our turn, when we would face off against the kids.  As our turn approached it started to rain and the field quickly became a giant mud puddle.  Finally it was time, and along with some of the teachers from Otho Abwao, we faced the all-star team of the Otho Abwao school.

In the pouring rain, we gave it our all and managed to come up with an early lead.  The rest of Otho Abwao's school children watched intently from the sidelines cheering us on.  Every time we scored a goal, we'd celebrate in ridiculous fashion such as arms flailing like an airplane or over-the-top chest bumps, which caused tons of laughter from our spectators.

However, the students had a ridiculous amount of stamina and soon they were catching up to us.  The score was 7-6 us, and our entire team exhausted, soaking wet, and covered in mud from while still still having a blast.  We agreed to play a sudden death finale: next goal wins.  While I would draw this out and build on the suspense of missed goals and extreme athleticism, I'm guessing you read the post title, and therefore know that the Otho Abwao children emerged victorious from an intense and incredibly fun game.

As you can see from the first photo, we definitely gave it our all, and were pretty serious about our soccer.  In future trips, we might need to add a question about soccer skills on the trip application.  We also might have to start doing daily practice to hone the skills of our team.  This definitely was a blast and despite losing, it felt amazing being drenched, dirty and exhausted, knowing you'd given every once of effort while having an immensely fun time.  But until next time, Otho Abwoa has a new soccer ball as their trophy from their victory of the first ever EWB football tournament.

Otho Abwao Assessment: Productive & Fun

While you'll be hearing lots more about it in the coming weeks, I just wanted to post a quick update about our trip. We got a lot of stuff done, from surveys and soil samples for school assessment to adding tank coverings and adding new taps to the water system.  Plus we were able to make progress on other initiatives too such as a microfinance project, our visual penpal program and health surveys(which showed some excellent improvement in health, assumed to be in part to their new access to clean water).
There was plenty of fun too, from a soccer game vs. the school's all-star team during a rainstorm, to navigating the markets in Nairobi.  It was a blast!

Again, look for lots more about the trip once our team(me included) shakes off their jetlag and can actually process this amazing experience.

Send-Off Success!

The EWB Spring Trip send-off yesterday went great!

A special thanks to all our speakers as well as everybody who came out to the event.  As you can see in the picture, we even got a fancy proclamation from Steve Driehaus.

And if that's not cool enough, we even got a spot on the channel 9 evening news.  Click the link below to watch both me and the reporter stumble through the segment.  (by the way, it's Otho Abwao, not Otho Bwy-you, or whatever he said)

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/UC-s-Engineers-Without-Borders-Returns-To-Kenya/g-rLApHg3kOoXC0J4Jr4NQ.cspx

So where are we going anyways?

That's a good question.  On our spring trip, we're traveling to Otho Abwao, Kenya.  We'll leave Cincinnati by plane and after 2 layovers arrive in Nairobi.  After staying the night there, we'll be driven west till we almost reach Lake Victoria.  Otho Abwao is located within sight of Lake Victoria on a hill.  

If you really want to investigate more, type those Latitude and Longitude points into Google Earth and explore Otho Abwao for yourself.

Spring Assessment Trip

First off, sorry for the long delay in blog posts, we had some technical difficulties getting new people able to post, but a lot has happened since then.

We traveled to Burere to assess for our school project, we got a new website, and most recently we got technical approval for an assessment trip for the Otho Abwao school!

Check out the schedule for the trip posted above.

Messages of Thanks From the Community

We received emails from the community with notes of thanks:

TITLE: WATER IS LIFE IN OTHO ABWAO KENYA AFRICA

I would very much on behalf of my community: Otho Abwao, Nyando District, Kenya, Africa give our gratitude to the students of Cincinnati university for making it possible for us to have a running water in our community. Our ladies who were tired of stepping on the foot pump which was very hard for the old ladies to pump water can now fill their 20litres jerry cans within a minute. Thanks to EWB Cincinatti, Prof. Dan and the entire team who ventured in Kenya, Africa to let us have clean drinking and cooking water. Thanks so much. We hope our partnership will keep on and you will be back!!!!! Thanks and God bless your organization.

Hazel Okullo

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Hi Andy and colleagues,

Hope your journey back to the states was fine. How are you doing? Once again on the behalf of the community and my own behalf register our appreciation for the excellent work your group did for us. It is our prayer that may God continue to bless you as you continue to study and in helping the less fortunate. We look forward to hear from you and see you once again. Say hi to the rest

Kind regards
Seth Oluoch

The Smiles Mean the Most!

Going to the village of Otho Abwao with EWB was an experience I will never forget. That's a good thing!

As a senior I felt that it was a little late for me to join the EWB group, and I wasn't sure where to direct my efforts into the organization. I had heard a great deal about the implementation trip, but since I had not done much with the group yet, I wasn't sure that this was the right opportunity for me to start my involvement. With much hesitation, I decided to give it a shot, and spoke to Andy, the President of EWB-UCIN, about joining the other students on the implementation trip. That was the best decision I had made all year! It is NEVER too late to get involved. I spent the next four months ironing out the last details of the design and preparing myself for a trip that I knew would have a tremendous impact on my life to come.
I have always enjoyed participating in service work and helping others - the biggest reward being those beautiful smiling faces - however, actually designing the project that is to be implemented, creates a very different feeling. A much more rewarding feeling.

It was my first trip to Africa, and my first trip to any developing nation, and while I had an idea of what to expect; there were, as you can imagine, still many things that took me by surprise. Nothing can prepare you for the sights of the vast lands in Kenya: The baboons sitting in the road, the acres of tea plantations, the rundown shops lining the roads, the locals riding by with 5 Jerry cans on their bicycles, the poverty. Going to Africa and seeing these things first hand has created a feeling in me, that I hope I can never forget. It has encouraged me to continue in doing these kinds of projects, and contribute all I can to help the nations that need it most. Every little bit helps.

The most touching memory I have of Otho Abwao, was on the last full day we spent in the village. Almost all we could do had been done, and while we knew we would not be able to see the final product of all our hard work we also knew that Dan would stay until the job got done. A few of the students and villagers were digging one of the last trenches. A trench which had to be dug in very compact soil, because it was at one of the "roads" in the village. People came and went, to watch and to help, children included. One boy in particular (probably about 13 years of age) was working very hard to help dig. As we were both digging - and sweating - he stopped and looked over at me. I could tell he was trying to say something while catching his breath. He looked as exhausted as I felt and I though he might have hurt himself (or be ready to fall over at any moment). Instead - he mustered out the words... "Could I please have a pen?" - The smile that appeared on his face when I gave him that pen, will forever stick in my head.

At the End, Coming Full Circle

Imagine. Imagine growing up in a small community. No paved roads, no sidewalks. No TV, no email, no internet. No newspaper on your doorstep, no shelf of books at home. No carpet, no tile, no linoleum on the floor. No refrigerator, no lightbulbs, no electricity. No flushing toilet, no running water. No running water.

Many of us read what's above and think that we can handle it. It's just like camping! But think about it again, this isn't camping for a weekend or a week, this is your home, for everyday. This is how people in Otho Abwao live. But the best part? Look at the photo below, do those kids look sad?

That's what hit me the most when the EWB-UCIN team of eight plus one professor went to Kenya to implement our water distribution project. The smiling kids were everywhere. They were happy to scamper and play and watch as we built something they had never seen, a tap with water running out of it.

Other members below and above have expounded on some of the grittier details. About how we got there, the delay of materials, Dan needing to stay longer, the power of a thank you. While I don't want to make my post a repeat, the same thoughts and feelings apply with a personal twist.

Being there and helping make something that all of us take for granted is amazing. It truly is hard to describe. I feel that you need to speak to me in person about it so you can see my facial expressions. From gathering water in a muddy pond with water lapping at cow and goat poop on the side to clean groundwater pouring from a tap. That is a leap, that is impressive.

Completing this implementation trip at the end of my senior year, I feel that I've come full circle. When I joined EWB as a freshman, soon after it was founded, I knew this is what I wanted to do. No other organization could touch the real engineering design influenced by health and culture. You simply can not get that anywhere else at UC. On the trip I think Jordan put it best when he said that all of his other engineering work didn't matter. Yes, we've all learned important concepts and educational tools to be able to complete this part of the project, but this is the first time any of us has made a real impact on real lives. This is real engineering. The full circle part? That's me at an EWB meeting telling younger members what EWB is and now what EWB has done. To see freshmen get excited about EWB in the same way I did, and then want to run with it. That's how the circle is completed, only to come around again.

The real meaning of 'value engineering'

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's this image worth to you? For the students of the Engineers Without Borders chapter at the University of Cincinnati, this picture represents years of commitment and thousands of dollars of investment. School children in a rural village in Western Kenya watching water pour from a distribution kiosk. This is the first time these children have seen water from a tap. The first time they've had water available at their school - in any form other than buckets of dirty water collected from ponds on their morning commute. What's this worth?

Its worth the time and effort of a dedicated team of students. It worth financial input from generous family, friends, church members, the University, and others. Its worth strained relationships and self sacrifice. Every day, more than 10,000 children around the world die from a lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. More than two billion people - that's one in every three humans on the planet - live in conditions where they haven't witnessed a scene like this.



As shown in this series of pictures, the system designed and constructed by the students utilizes a solar array to generate electric power for a pump which delivers clean ground water to concrete storage tanks constructed uphill of the community. Clean water from the tanks is redistributed down the hill to five kiosks strategically located throughout the village. Old women no longer need to struggle with a foot pump. Young girls don't need to carry forty pounds of water on their heads in jerry cans. Attendance of girls at school should increase. Mothers should be more hydrated and better able to nurse newborns. Sanitation and personal hygiene should improve as water is more readily available for hand washing and proper preparation of food.

The lives of more than 500 people have been positively impacted by this project. And the motivation for greater accomplishment comes from this success.

Personally, I'm as proud as can be of the work of the EWB team at UC. Sure, as reflected in the students' accounts of the project details can always be improved. Engineering in a developing country never goes exactly according to plan (i.e., never forget that long sections of black HDPE pipe experience significant thermal elongation and contraction in the equitorial sun - translation: cut and fit piping early in the morning!) But this dedicated group of students - those who traveled to Kenya and those who worked tirelessly at home to make this trip a success - have achieved a major goal. As a teacher, what more can one wish for one's students?

No more footing the pump

Our trip was filled with many different experiences that truly made it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Driving to the village was interesting as we got to see a wide array of environments and living styles. The vast Rift Valley and baboons on the side of the highway were pretty cool. The roads themselves were intriguing to me as a future transportation engineer. Driving on the left side was new, but the lack of striping and stop signs was really interesting and the driving culture was unique, a first-come-first-serve approach as you had to be aggressive. Seeing the constructed tanks that I helped design put things into reality as most of my co-op work was preliminary stuff and I never saw much of it completed.

Providing someone with easier access to water might not sound like much too many people, but until you understand the impact it will on there lives, you see the importance. For many villagers using the foot pump to get water takes hours each week that could be used to tend crops, help children, and for women, attend school. For some people the work involved to get water from the borehole is too much and therefore many resorted to gathering water from the ponds and other dirty water sources. Many times I saw children getting water from these locations and I’d just sort of make a mental comment of “just a few more days and you won’t have to get water from there anymore.” Many of the villagers were concerned why the tanks had no roof as most of the concrete tanks in the area had roofs, but these systems allowed bacteria to grow inside, thus contaminating the water in the tanks. The benefit of our system is that we will use the sun to help kill some of bacteria that is in the water via a removal roof on the tanks, which also allows easy access to clean the tanks when sediment accumulates in the bottom. Engineers also understand the limits to which they can design for and we understood we couldn’t treat the hardness of their water, but the fact that we are making their water easier to access was priority. The true impact of our system won’t be clear for another few months as health assessments and other feedback will be completed.

Probably the single event that made the whole project hit home was the first night we arrived in Otho Abwao. As we were making our first walk up to the tanks along the trench an older gentleman walked up to me and shook my hand and simply said “thank you” in English. That simple phrase rarely has much meaning to most people in our society as it’s just a common saying with little real meaning, but this was probably one of the few times I felt the full grasp of a thank you. I feel I’m really in tune with the power we engineers have in society, but that act made me really understand the impact we have on people. Along the way we were joined by dozens of kids and more adults until we reached the tanks and looked over the village and towards Lake Victoria. This was another feel good moment as we got acquainted with the people whose lives we were changing for the better.

We were told we would be followed by kids all the time, but until you are surrounded by them watching your every move you don’t know what to expect. For me it was kind of like working with my four year-old niece, Taylor, except that these kids weren’t asking a million questions and grabbing all the tools and materials, but rather fascinated by our work. The trip had many stressing situations and simply working on your tasks and being surrounded by smiling children shows you that you can’t let one thing overcome you. We all knew that the water system would allowed them to have more time in school as they would be able to spend less time gathering water and the water would be a bit safer so they won’t get sick as much. And everyone loves seeing pictures of cute kids smiling.

Engineering is full of adapting to situations and this trip allowed everyone to be flexible because well, TIA (This Is Africa, our motto) and you can’t control everything so you have to just go with the flow. For me this facet is usually easier said than done as I prefer most things to be planned out with little hitches. But having to redesign the roof system, have the contractor back a few piping changes, and going shopping in Kisumu were the best opportunities I had at improving my engineering experience. As Andy would later say “trying learning that in a class room,” which continues to show how important co-op is in the curriculum at UC and how it prepares us for any work that can be thrown in our direction.

The hardest decision we had to make and cope with was that we didn’t see the full completion of the project because of customs issues we had we our pump and a few solar panels. To see water being pumped from the borehole to tanks, then into the distribution network, and finally seeing villagers fill their jerry cans at the tap stands would mark a completion of the project for some of us. For Andy and Neil, who have been involved a long time in EWB, this might have been a bit harder on them. Professor Dan helped explain the situation and helped us refocus our personal feelings about leaving an unfinished project. By reiterating the fact that we can complete the stuff we have power over, we should feel that we completed the project and to let things we can’t control be just as they are. We all had total confidence in Dan completing things for us.

Although this project was real and our decisions have effects on everyone involved, it’s another learning opportunity we have in our education, but for us this opportunity is truly unique and one that everyone should experience. For us seniors it has allowed us to use all the work we have done on co-op and in the classroom to make an impact in the world, one small village at a time. For our freshman member, I can’t really speak on his experiences, but he got the opportunity to see how far engineering students progress in less than five years in regards to our professionalism and how we make adjustments. I told him this was his first co-op and he would get a lot more out of this experience than it might seem. Traveling and working with my friends made things easier for all of us since everyone enjoys working with friends. When you have complicated and intense situations and decisions to make its more fun with people you’re comfortable with. Even though we did have some disagreements about stuff, we understood it’s from an engineering perspective, not personal.

It wasn’t all work and we did have a lot of fun. As I mentioned before, being around friends as great in that you can always joke around with them. Some things that happened can’t be talked about because, “What happens in Africa, stays in Africa,” but we had many laughs at the dinner table and on the porch. Everyone got picked on and everyone dished it back which helped us relax after a long day in the sun and heat. Dan is very interesting to be around and he really made things fun even though things weren’t always rosy.

The flights home were interesting, I got patted down in both Nairobi and London and Andy got it in Chicago. I was hoping not to 3 for 3 in Chicago, but I passed otherwise I was going to scream. Our problems in Chicago started in London as we got delayed on the runway for 30 minutes. This delay got us to Chicago at 4:30pm for a 5:10pm flight. A little tight even if you’re flying domestic, but we had to pass through customs, collect and recheck bags, and go through security. Liesbet is a Belgium citizen so she had to go through a different, slower customs line. Neil volunteered to stay back with her, which left the rest of us to sprinting to the gate. The American Airlines counter people didn’t think we had a chance and sent us to schedule a new flight. The next counter told us we could make it and checked our bags and sent us up to the gate. Chicago’s airport is annoying in that you basically have to go halfway across the airport to get anywhere. We passed through security at a line where there weren’t very many people, and this is where Andy’s moist toilette got him stopped for a few minutes. After he passed through we sprinted to gate H-1B about 400-500 ft from where we came from. At the counter, one guy wouldn’t let us on (the plane was still sitting there), but another co-worker let us on. Turns out the plane hadn’t been fueled up, so we had a few extra minutes. We were hoping Neil and Liesbet would make it in time but they didn’t. We got home about 8pm in Cincinnati where we were welcomed by 40° and rain compared to the 90° and dry sun. Right now it’s a matter of getting the sleep cycle back down before classes start on Monday.

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.