Our team is assigned to a village named Kpachaa (silent K!), which sits slightly elevated from the surrounding verdant landscape. It is a sizable community, with around 70 households, a mosque (with a resident imam), and a large school. On Monday, we built the water business center. We strapped the Polytank precariously to the top of our taxi and embarked upon an off-road excursion down to the dugout, courtesy of our soft-spoken taxi driver, Quiet Ali (who according to our translator, Jaleel, drives his car like a tank). Upon arrival, we set about the business of cleaning the enormous Polytank. Our vertically challenged teammate, Alyssa, was deemed fit for the task of entering the Polytank and scrubbing it down. She obliged, even though the inside of the tank was essentially a sauna. We put large sticks down on either side of the tank and held onto it to prevent her from rolling away like a hamster in a ball.

Next, we rinsed the tank out with alum-treated water from our large drums, creating a small stream from business to dugout.

Once completely drained, the entrepreneurs scooped the rest of the alum-treated water into the tank and added chlorine Aquatabs. The four of us field reps occupied the women’s children as their mothers filled the tank. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, amazed when they drew out hopscotch, as we believed we had taught them this game the day before. As it turns out, they’ve been playing this game long before we came in, though they call it aberkatchee (completely phonetic spelling). After playing several rounds, we attempted to teach them duck duck goose, which presented its own challenges in trying to teach a game without the aid of language. One bright little girl picked up on the concept of the game quickly, and was able to explain to the younger ones when to get up and run. Once they all began to understand the game, their excitement grew—a bit too much—and the game descended into chaotic jumping.
While we were occupied by the younger children, two of the older schoolboys took off with Alyssa’s phone, taking pictures of whatever they saw fit. This included loads of selfies, but also included some really incredible action shots, both of their mothers working, and of the children playing. All in all it was a memorable day for the four of us in Kpachaa, and we have wonderful documentation thanks to these two boys. Contact us if you’re in the market for a wedding photographer….