Hi from Team Blessing!
We have been implementing a clean water business in the village of Darvoguyili and have found it to be a lively community with a lot of spirit! After lots of building, preparation, and training, we had our opening day this past Friday. When we arrived to oversee the process we were at first met with total chaos. People were congregated all around the center with their safe storage containers ready to go and women were in the process of roasting shea nuts. A mix of smoke and excitement wafted through the air.
Our friend Jonathan Jakpa, the local schoolteacher, was able to help us organize everyone into a line. From here, our women entrepreneurs took charge. In about an hour, they sold clean water to 38 out of 40 households—a spectacular turn out! The only two households missing had promised to buy clean water later. There were a few minor complications. Leaky taps were tightened and safe storage containers were scrubbed clean. The community seemed ecstatic to take home their newly treated water. The Chief’s mother even stopped to dance for us. It was an amazing feeling for us to see each container be filled to the brim with purified water.
Today we conversed with community members as we went ahead and monitored nine households (followed by a parade of rambunctious children). We were pleased to see that all of the safe storage containers had been stored properly. We were also happy to hear complimentary comments about the water. Some community members appeared to be understandably hesitant to drink the water. We encouraged everyone to try the water out and emphasized that we were eager to hear feedback. We were able to fix another safe storage container tap today and were given guinea fowl eggs in exchange for our services. We met with one of the women entrepreneurs and gave her a printed picture of herself in front of the center. Our last stop consisted of a meeting with the Chief. He was excited to meet with us and informed us that he had been drinking the water. Tomorrow is our last day in the village and we will miss the energy and enthusiasm the community put into this project!
