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Month: January 2012

CWS Fellowship Staff

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I often blog about the awesome staff we have here at CWS, who work full-time both in the States and in Ghana. However, there is another special group of CWS team members who don’t get as much blog love: our amazing part-time translators that help us during the Fellowship Program Sessions.

The CWS Fellowship Staff: Wahab (full-time), Amin (Fellowship Translator), TJ (full-time), Peter (full time), Sam, Shak (full time), ME, Jaleel (Fellowship Translator), Ayesha (Fellowship Translator), Nestor (Fellowship Translator), Mohammed (Fellowship Translator), and Stephanie (Fellowship Leader)

This winter, we were lucky enough to have 5 amazing individual join our team as translators for the Fellows: Amin, Jaleel, Ayesha, Nestor, and Mohammed. These guys and gal did such a great job working with the Fellows in the field. Many of their days were very long, and very tedious (imagine translating for a team of 4 people all day long in the hot sun!), but every translator always came back from the field with a smile on his or her face. When asked about their overall “high” of the trip, the Fellows almost always say the relationship they formed with their translators.

Amin, Jaleel, Ayesha , Nestor, and Mohammed – we can not thank you enough for your hard work this winter! The Fellowship Program would not have been possible with you and definitely would not have been as enjoyable without your positive attitudes and endlessly entertaining antics. You are such a valuable part of the CWS team!

Team B Wrapping It Up in Tamale

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Despa! Good morning to our friends and family. These last two days have been our final days in our village, Libi. We continued household monitoring to make sure all household buckets were working properly and that everyone was using their new, clean drinking water. Everyone in Libi had positive things to say about the water and almost all the households were storing the buckets off of the ground and using a special drinking cup. In particular, there was an older woman in the village who was especially grateful. She told us that she had been very sick of late and her doctor prescribed clean drinking water as her medicine. Because Libi is secluded and potable water is expensive, it was hard for her to follow this order. Since we implemented Libi’s water treatment center she will be able to take her medicine – clean water – everyday! We visited 70 households total! Today we also put up the CWS sign for Libi so that everyone who passes by the village knows it is part of the CWS program. We are very proud that we were able to sponsor Libi as the 2012 Winter Fellows!

After all the work was finished, we handed out clothes and candy to the kids. “Handed out” ended up being mass chaos so Wahab, our fearless translator, had to take over the distribution of shirts and lollipops. He thoroughly enjoyed himself! We all wish we could have given them more. We have all enjoyed our time in Libi and Tamale and have lots of fond memories to take home with us. On Monday it’s back to Accra.

See you soon U.S.!

-Whitney, Ashley, Jasdeep & Walter

And they’re off!

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I can’t believe that this day is already here! Early this morning, the 9 CWS translators and I waved goodbye as the two buses filled with the 2012 Winter Fellows pulled out of the Tamale station and headed for Accra. And with that, our biggest Winter Fellowship Program ever has come to a close.

The 2012 Winter Fellows with their Fellowship Leaders and Translators right before they loaded on the bus for Accra (not pictured: Jasdeep and Ashley who were getting egg sandwiches 🙂 )

Thanks to this amazing group of people (and the family and friends that supported their fundraising efforts!!), 4,500 people in rural Ghana now have access to safe drinking water. Before the Fellows’ arrival, every single one of these people were fetching their drinking water from highly contaminated, very turbid, surface water sources called  “dugouts”, which are shared with the community’s livestock. These dugouts are man-made ponds that fill with rainwater during the rainy season, and sit stagnant during the dry months, getting more and more contaminated as time passed.  Now these 9 new villages have permanent access to safe drinking water and 18 new women also have a new source of income – their CWS water business!

This session of Fellows were such a joy to work with! From day 1 it was clear to me and the rest of the CWS staff that they were a really special group. They were inquisitive and interested; passionate about their projects; extremely caring and compassionate when working in their villages; and, most importantly, SUCH a blast!!

Alex, Laura, Matt, Walter, Jasdeep, Ashley, Whitney, Zander, Michelle, Peter, Janelle P, Sarah C, Mark, Brianan, Larissa, Nate, Emma, Janelle T, Hannah, Lindsey, Asia, Luke, Kelly, Caitlin M, Katie, Brittany, Caitlin R, Boyd, Tim, Janna, Kristen, Sarah J, and Melissa,

Sam, Stef, Kathryn, and I have had such a wonderful time getting to know each of you! We all just can’t wait to see what amazing things you do with your futures. Thank you for spending your winter break with us in Ghana – you have helped change the lives of so many people!

Safe Travels!

-Kate

ps – I realize that we still need to post Team B’s “voices from the field.” Their post is currently with them, on the bus to Accra but we will get it up soon! Don’t worry Ashley, Jasdeep, Walter and Whitney’s family and friends, you will hear their story soon!

Voices from the Field: Team G

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Team G here (Katie, Caitlin, and Brittany)! Two days ago we opened our water business in Kagburashe, which was very exciting. We got to our village around 7am and upon arriving to the dugout, were very pleased to see a number of CWS safe storage containers already lined up by the polytank, ready to get filled up with clean water. With the help of several villagers, including the children, we developed an orderly and quick distribution system. Our translator, Mohammed, helped the ladies fill up the buckets while Brittany kept track of which had been filled and paid for. Katie and Caitlin played with the children and helped the women in line. In about two hours we filled 43 buckets and several children’s water bottles (who gave the water rave reviews, by the way)! Since our village is comprised of about 46 households, we were thrilled that almost everyone came out for opening day!

Caitlin with the women who run the CWS water business in Kagburasche

Here are the two women who run the water business in Kagburashe. They were chosen by the Chief and elders and will be in charge of maintaining the water business after Team G returns home. It was amazing to see these women in action; they quickly learned the water treatment process (first using alum as a coagulant and then chlorine as a disinfectant), and how to keep track of sales. We have full confidence in their ability to run the business and are excited that they will be making a small profit in addition to providing their village with clean drinking water.

Brittany and Katie with our taxi driver, Hamza

It was awesome to see the bright blue, green, and purple CWS buckets sitting on the heads of our village women and girls instead of the dirty metal ones they usually use for water. So bright and clean, reflecting the healthy water that now sits inside. Everyone was so happy to see the clear water flowing out of the polytank spicket. We hope that the villagers continue to take care of this water and take care of themselves. At the end of the day our translator took us to his home, where his mother prepared a celebration meal of Fufu—a traditional Ghanaian meal consisting of beaten down yams and a spicy tomato sauce. Katie and Brittany even tried some fried rat! What a day for new things all around!!

-Caitlin, Katie and Britany

Voices from the Field: Team I

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Kristen and Sarah hanging out with the awesome kids from Buja while on our way to do some household visits

Ahntray from Team I! Today we hit the road at 7:30am and began Day 1 of monitoring in our village called Buhijaa. We went household to household to check that each family using their blue bucket for clean drinking water from the polytank. If we found a household that wasn’t using it properly, we would have them correct it on the spot. Fortunately, almost every household we monitored today had a full bucket of clear drinking water! We took a sample of each and went to the lab for testing to be sure their water is free of E Coli and other bacteria.

Melissa taking a water sample to test in our lab

It is fun because we get to have conversations with the women in each household to ask them about how they are enjoying the water and make sure everything is running properly. Their answer was always: YES! We love the work you’ve done!

Kristen, Shak, Sarah and Melissa in Buja

The chief has been so thankful that we came to their village to help provide them with clean water and keep them healthy. Everyday we greet him and he gives us his blessing. Today, he gave us a live chicken and a lot of yams and explained how he wished he could do more for us. Sarah had the pleasure of riding home in the back of Shak’s truck with the chicken tied up by her side. And let’s just say, it’s not exactly the smoothest or fastest ride to our village. We are about an hour and a half away from Tamale and parts of it could be debated as to whether it is even actually a road or not!

Team I: Kristen Sarah, Shak and Melissa with our chicken from Buja!

As our time here draws to a close, we will be going out for dinner as a group with all the fellows to a restaurant called SWAD. See you back in the states in a few days!

All the best,

Melissa, Kristen, and Sarah

Voices from the Field: Team H

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YAPALSI!

Yesterday was OPENING DAY in Yapalsi! After a week of arduous work setting up the facility and distributing safe storage containers, we finally got to see our work pay off. It was fulfilling to watch our women—Sinatu and Irisyatu—becoming supreme rulers of the center. Throughout the day, we heard our women discussing with the other villagers about how the center will operate which made us feel jubilant. All the women in the village showed up to collect water for their families including the Fulani people from outside the village, which we weren’t expecting. In fact, so many people showed up that the center ran out of clean water before everyone’s buckets were filled. Luckily, our women were on top of the problem and were refilling the blue drums with new water to be treated before we left. Towards the end of the day, the chief came out to express his appreciation for all of our work. He loved it so much that he bought 4 extra buckets for his family, and many other families followed suit. Finally, we took pictures to commemorate the event. All in all the day was a success in epitomizing the goals of CWS and we look forward to monitoring and witnessing the growth and development of the village!

-Team Hawesome (Tim, Janna, Boyd and Caitlin)

Voices from the Field: Team A

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Antire ! (good afternoon) from Tamale and greetings from the remaining members from team A!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for us because we were able to meet face to face almost every individual in our village (Manguli). Our day yesterday consisted of walking from household to household distributing clean water containers that they will use to collect their families clean water from their new clean water source. It was amazing to be welcomed into every household and get to know each family individually. It was a very exciting day for our team, as all the people that we got know were very excited about the work we were doing. The day was also challenging, as we had to distribute forty- six clean water storage buckets!

Last night was tough as one of our contributing team members Matt Gillstrap returned home to the states as he had grad school to prepare for. Matt’s hard work did not go unrewarded as today was opening day for the village of Manguli giving clean water to ever household for the first time!

Safe Travels Matt! We miss you!

We began our day in Manguli like the days prior with first meeting at the Chief’s household to pay our respects and discuss our plan for the day. Every time we get to interact with the chief it is a really amazing experience as we go back and forth through our translator Nestor.

After meeting with the chief all the women and elders of the village met us at the new polytank with their buckets. There was a great opening ceremony with prayers said and water passed around; after that there was a four-hour frenzy of getting water into everyone’s buckets. It was very rewarding to see everyone so enthusiastic about their clean water.

Clean water for everyone!

When we met with the chief after everyone picked up their clean water he presented us with a guinea fowl and six cassavas to express his and the village’s deep appreciation. Can’t wait to make a meal of them!

The chief of Manguli with Laura and our new Guniea Fowl

-Laura and Alex (and Matt)

Voices From the Field: Team F

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Team F: Asia, Luke, Amin (our translator), Lindsey and Kelly in front of the water treatment center in Laligu

What’s up, from Team F?!?!? Today, we had the last day of training for the women of our village, Laligu, and had to finish distributing our safe storage containers. When we met our women at the dugout, we taught them how to manage the money that they will be earning from the water sales. Our women will be charging 10 pesewas for each bucket of water. This money will go towards purchasing supplies in the future and also to provide them with a small container. Asia, Luke and Lindsey acted out purchasing the water to show our women how much they need to put aside each day so that they can keep the center functioning well into the future.

Lindsey playing with some of the awesome children in Laligu

While today was not our most exciting day, we were all running off of the emotions of yesterday. Two days ago, Team F started the purification process in what was one of the most demanding days we have experienced thus far. Lindsey and Kelly had to fill up one of the 200 L blue drums with water. Since we have yet to master the art of carrying buckets on our heads, it required many trips back and forth with small pails of dugout water. After a long morning, Team F was able to add the alum and call it a day. Monday, however, was probably the most exciting day for our team. We finally got to show our women how to run the center on their own and they caught on so quickly. We were taken aback at how easily they were able to figure out the best ways to clean out the drums, add the alum and fill up the 140 L polytank. But the moment of truth came when we opened the spigot for the first time and out came clear water. Lindsey started passing around a cup filled with clean water and telling all the children that had gathered to drink the water. This was a very emotional but wonderful experience for us all!

Team F collecting gravel to fill the polytank stand

The women who will be running our center, Sharatu and Abawu, were so happy after seeing the clean water. They told us that they are excited to have clean water because now they will be able to keep their kids healthy and make their medicines. If that doesn’t make all the work worth it, what does?! Tomorrow, Team F will be opening our Clean Water System in Laligu. We are expecting a great turnout. Even the chief (who has never been to the dugout) is going to be there! We are so excited about tomorrow and even more excited about this wonderful opportunity to provide clean water to our village!!

Team F hanging out at our completed polytank stand with all of the men from the village who helped us build it!

-Asia, Lindsey, Luke and Kelly

Voices from the Field: Team E!

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Team E: Nate, Janelle, Emma, Hannah and our awesome translator TJ by our finished polytank stand!

Team E here! 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. Janelle and Nate sat in the bed of the truck holding onto the blue drums, while Hannah, Emma and TJ crammed into the front seat. 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.

Tomorrow, given that our truck pulls through, we will finish bringing out the supplies and hopefully begin training the women! We have loved working with the people of Kpaniyili thus far, and are extremely excited to begin the next phase of this project with them.

-Nate, Emma, Hannah, and Janelle

Voices from the Field: Team D

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Today was one of the most exciting days so far for Team D because it was the first day of building! As we pulled into the village, Kpachiyili, the children were all together near the entrance, Peter, our translator, told us that they were there waiting for us. All of the villagers were smiling, waving and genuinely happy to see us. We greeted the chief and then got right down to business. In our past meeting, we decided to build the polytank stand in an area near the dugout that does not flood in the rainy season. Some men came with us in the truck to help build the stand and the children surrounded us as we began to work. Peter wanted music, so we brought the speakers outside and all of the kids sat down right next to where the music was playing. We unloaded all of the supplies from the truck and Peter drew a design in the sand for where the bricks would go. He made the design in the shape of what looked to be something like an igloo. The men laid the bricks and mixed the cement. Then Peter showed us how to use to the trowels to put the cement in between the bricks. He let all of us help. With the help of the villagers, we built the initial part of the polytank stand. The process did not take as long as I expected and we were done within an hour. It was awesome getting to see the fruits of our labor! Before we could move on in the building process, we have to wait for the cement to dry. Tomorrow we are going to fill the base of the stand with gravel and then plaster the entire thing so that the polystand will be able to sit on top.

Sarah holding hands with one of the Elders in our village
Brianan and Larissa working extra hard to build the polytank stand!
Sarah, Larissa and Peter at work with the trowels and the cement.

After, we went back to the chief to tell him what we had accomplished and that we would be back tomorrow. We sat on a bench facing him and he gave us some chief wisdom. He told us that you must live your life through goodness and try to pass on good to others. Although we must live through goodness, he said that this goodness is the work of God. The chief always likes to relate everything back to God and the will of God. He said that he hopes that someday the children of his village will be so educated that they will get to leave the village, travel and develop their skills so as to eventually better the village. The chief puts much emphasis on education and the welfare of the children. He is awesome!

The first part of the polytank stand is complete. WOOHOO!

When the chief was done sharing his wisdom with us, something unexpected happened. A boy brought a live chicken to our meeting with the chief.  Peter said that the chief and villagers wanted to prepare us some food but they were unsure of what we ate. So instead of preparing something, they decided to give us this chicken. The chief thanked us and the boy gave the chicken to Mark. The chief continued by saying that we must all eat this chicken and it will give us the strength to finish our work in the village. He also said that before we eat this chicken, we must thank our parents for helping us get to where we are today. If we do all of us this, he said that all of us will someday find wives and husbands. Peter nicknamed the chicken, Mr. Coq. We were all so excited and shocked to receive such a gift. We asked the chief to take pictures with us and the chicken and he agreed. After, we showed the chief the picture and he shrieked with excitement. He said, “Oh this makes me too happy”. What an unforgettable day. Finally it was time for us to go and Mark held the chicken on his lap (which later pooped on him, ha!). All of the children chased the truck down the road as we left the village. This has been the best day of the trip so far. Peter’s mom is going to prepare Mr. Coq for us tomorrow for Mark’s birthday; it will be quite the feast!

Team D (Mark, Larissa, Brianan, Sarah and Peter) with the chief of Kpachiyili and Mr. Coq

-Brianan, Mark, Sarah, and Larissa