Our team arrived late afternoon at 4:00pm in Mahamuyili for the celebration of the opening day of the water treatment center. We headed to the dugout along with the people from the village. The water center had a successful turnout; all 25 households attended opening day (almost at the same time) turning the opening into a lively event. Everyone was very eager to have their turn at the Polytank to fill their containers. The two women elected to run the water business, Fatimah and Hawa, opened the center up for business and quickly got to work taking money and filling containers.

Within moments of getting started a container was about to overflow so one woman caught all of the extra in her container lid and proceeded to chug the entire amount of water. A loud “BURPPP” leaped out from her and the crowd all reacted with laughter and excitement. Three containers in, we started to have some customers who had leaky taps and after this first one it seemed that every container after it also had a leak. Our team arranged an assembly line to adjust any leaky or faulty taps and successfully fixed each and every one.

To celebrate opening day, we brought bubbles and candy to share with the children. It quickly turned chaotic with Savannah and Chelsea nearly being tackled to the ground by a swarm of very excited children (including the men and women of the village). Music filled the air the entire duration, keeping the atmosphere fun and lively with dancing and many tickling attacks. We finished opening day with a sunset walk back to Mahamuyili with music and our two women entrepreneurs.

– Savannah, Yi, Chelsea, Eugenia, and Alberta