On Saturday, Team 4 opened the new water treatment center at the village of Zanzugu. The team was led by its trusty translator, Shak, and was prepared for hectic day after hearing the tale of Team 1’s opening day.  Upon arriving at Zanzugu after their daily 45-minute ride in Shak’s trusty Nissan Suzuki, the team had their daily meeting with the chief.  The chief promptly expressed his excitement over opening and quickly mobilized the community to meet the treatment center.  The team was assured that once the drums sounded, the village would flock to the shiny new Rambo 100 Polytank to fill their safe storage buckets and to quench their thirst.

Upon the team’s arrival at the treatment center, the two women chosen to run the center were already scooping the alum-treated dugout water from the glistening blue drums into the polytank.  Three Aquatabs completed the simple but powerful recipe for clean water and the tap started flowing. Bucket after bucket arrived. The chief and the elders of the village overlooked as family after family approached the tap, paid their 10 pesawas and collected their clean drinking water.  All of a sudden, a band of drummers gathered villagers by the central tree and organically a dance circle came to fruition.  Even a few leaky buckets could disrupt the rhythm of the line as the team efficiently monitored the opening sales and fixed any minor mishaps.  A controlled chaos swarmed the polytank as about 58 families fetched their water.

Though unforeseen circumstances kept a handful of families from receiving clean water, the women were more than happy to reopen the treatment center the following day, excited to fully own and run the sustainable clean water business.  The team would like to thank their excellent translator Shak, who skillfully led them through each step of the process and made implementation in Zanzugu a success.  Additionally, the team is grateful for all those donors who made this treatment center possible through their support and generosity.

-Team 4: Marlene, Kevin, Chris, Allie (and Shak!)

Coming up next: Pictures from Session 2!