Kawula! (What’s up?) We’re team Bangaham – Amanda, Olivia, Quinn, Mitch, and Bangaham (our translator and so much more) and we started working with the village of Chanaya this week! To build a relationship with our village, we met with an elder in the community because the village Chief was in Accra during our arrival. After getting the elder’s approval to work with the community, we gathered with the whole community to discuss the Saha Global method the following day.
We arrived at the village around 1 PM, just in time to meet with the whole community as they wrapped up afternoon prayers. Community members gradually trickled over to where we were standing in the shade, and the children scurried to grab benches for us to sit under a group of trees. It was exciting to see the whole village come together, including the Fulani – a nomadic ethnic group. In most cases, the Fulani people do not integrate with an established community since they are a different ethnic group. However, the elder and our translator explained that although the Fulani people live separately from the villagers, they have shared the same water source for years and have become socially integrated. 
The meeting began with our team asking the community what they thought of their water. The consensus was that they all knew the water was dirty, but they were uncertain as to why. After explaining why the dugout water is unsafe to drink, we opened it up for questions about the process. To give a visual of what the center would look like, we showed them pictures from other Saha villages. Everyone in the community was engaged and excited to learn about the project!
