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Fall Fellowship Application Deadline August 18th!

Posted on July 21, 2014 by samreilley

For the very first time we will be offering the opportunity to join our fellowship program for the implementation of a solar project! This Fall you will be given the choice whether you want to implement a solar charging station or a water treatment center.

The 2014 Fall Fellowship will be a two week program and take place from November 4th to 19th. Orientation will take place stateside via webinar allowing our fellows to hit the ground running! We accept fellows on a rolling basis and encourage you to apply early! The deadline for the Fall Fellowship is August 18th!

We are beyond excited to offer this opportunity! If you have any additional questions, please contact Sam at sreilley@communitywatersolutions.org

Voices from the field: Team TJ (Cara, Brielle, Selena & Jeremy)

Posted on June 16, 2014June 16, 2014 by samreilley

A flashback to before opening day:

Greetings from Team Teej! (Brielle Jeremy Cara & Selena)

Whether it’s rocking out to Rick Ross’ “Sanctified” or the Tamale Hip-Life legends R2bees, we know how to have a great time. We are currently working in the village of Changyili, which is only a short drive of 30 minutes out of Tamale. Along our way we are able to see the local vegetation and markets where the people are always happy to greet us. No hand wave is left unanswered!

It should be noted that the chief of Changyili is the most relaxed and friendliest elderly man we have had the chance to meet in Ghana. As he chilled in his home-made recliner stroking his grizzly grey beard and smoking a personal rolled cigarette, he watched us paint our new metal stand that will hold the Polytank full of clean drinking water.

We began our work by setting up the water drums and Polytank, and once the women were selected we were eager to begin training with them. When we finish our work for the day, we usually play with kids in the village. The first game we ever played with them was the infamous “tag”. Thinking that because most of the kids involved were younger and smaller we all expected to easily stay out of reach of being “it”. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that either we had suddenly all become incredibly out-of-shape overnight or these kids were all solid contenders for Usain Bolt.

We’re having a great time and the villagers are really appreciative of CWS, which gives us all great encouragement. They’re excited that this project is bringing health to their community, and we’re excited that we’re learning so much about their lifestyle. It’s neat when they teach us the language of Dagbani, let us do hands-on work with them to make their food, and show us games all the kids play. We get to pet baby goats and laugh with the people through simple means of communication and hand symbols.

As a group we are really looking forward to opening day tomorrow. This will mark the start of the new water business for the women entrepreneurs we have trained for the past two weeks. In addition, this business will provide clean water for the village of Changyili! GO TEAM TEEJ!

Voices from the field: Team Simply (Ana B, Remy & Danya)

Posted on June 13, 2014 by samreilley

Customers at the Manguli II water treatment center

For the past couple of weeks we have been working in a village called Manguli II (don’t forget the II). After spending time training our three elected entrepreneurs, Moshi, Sharatu, and Latifa, we finally opened their water business this morning! We planned to start at 10 o’clock but the day got off to a slow start which worried us a little bit. Forty five minutes later however, we saw people approaching the center with their blue buckets in hand. There were about 6 people who all arrived at once so we quickly informed them of how it would all pan out.They would first mark their buckets with their family name, then wash them and after that they would be ready to buy some clean water! The first sale made was to buy water for cleaning the safe storage container which was really exciting for both us and the women. Danya was in charge of marking buckets, Ana handled the cleaning process and Remy took charge whenever we came upon a leaky tap. Our translator, Simplicia aka Simply, played many roles as she tried to clean and translate all at once. Although the first to show came in a bit of a cluster, the rest of the day was pretty steady with people showing up one after another. At the end of the day, the women counted their sales and found that they filled 30 safe storage containers which amounted to a profit of 3 Ghanaian Cedis! Only three households in the community did not come to fetch water but it was only because they were traveling and are expected to come to the business as soon as they come back.

Ana, Simply & Danya with their great opening day outfits!

After two weeks of hard work, opening day showed how it all paid off. The process of bringing clean water to people in need is much more difficult than it seems. We definitely ran into a few speed bumps throughout the entire training and implementation process but after speaking with people and understanding their knowledge on the issue, it helped to bring us to our outcome today. We could see that the people who once seemed skeptical of our work were actually excited when they tasted the water and it was truly an amazing experience to watch. We really look forward to watching how everything plays out from here on and seeing how much of an impact our work has made on the people of Manguli II.

-Danya, Remy & Ana B.

Voice from the Field: Team Jaleel (Melissa, Sarah S., Christina & Nicole)

Posted on June 12, 2014June 12, 2014 by samreilley

Greetings from Ghana! Team Jaleel, which consists of Melissa, Nicole, Sarah and Christina, have been working hard to prepare for opening day tomorrow! We are working in the village of Jangbarayili, which means ‘man’s village’. Over the past couple of weeks we have completely fallen in love with the Jangbarayili community. They are wonderfully kind people and have been so welcoming since the moment we set foot in the village. It is an absolute pleasure to be greeted by Yaya Chairman at 7am every morning. We have really connected with community, especially the kids. In our free time we have played cards, duck-duck-goose, Frisbee, and soccer. They are an extremely active community. We were also surprised to find out that the dugout the community currently drinks from has a family of crocodiles living in it! We have had a couple croc sightings but we are far from the Crocodile Hunter experience.

Melissa chilling with some kids on the polytank

We began working in the village about a week ago and already we have set up the water treatment center and trained two of the community women in business management. It was an incredible moment to see the dugout water transform into clean, healthy, drinkable water. The results from our 3M test showed that the Jangbarayili village had some of the most E. Coli infested waters that CWS has ever seen. We anticipate that the clean water provided by the new center will have significant positive impacts on the health of the village. Today we finished distributing our safety storage containers and informed all members of the community of our big opening tomorrow! We also have a big surprise for the kids in the village. We are going to set up a rope swing by the trail leading down to the water center! We are so excited for our big event tomorrow! This has been an amazing learning experience for all of us and we are so grateful to have this opportunity to bring clean water to the Jangbarayili community!

-Melissa, Sarah S., Christina & Nicole

Nicole heads down to the water treatment center

Christina carries some supplies on her head for construction

Voices from the Field: Team Nestor!

Posted on June 5, 2014 by samreilley

Our first visit to the village was more successful than we thought it would be! We thought that we would have the chief meeting and it wold be more business-like and they would tell us that they wold think about working with us. To our surprise, after the elders of Sagbarigu and some of the women warmed up to us, it felt more like a gathering – hanging out with old friends!

Katie gets handed off a baby! He looks a little unsure about the whole thing!

During the meeting, the elders continually told us how excited they were! They decided that they wanted to talk to their village and gather questions for the community meeting the next day.

Following the meeting, a woman led us to their stream while a bunch of kids followed behind. This stream is where the village is currently fetching their drinking water. We quickly collected samples of water from the stream and then got to see the village’s borehole that produces salty, undrinkable water. The remainder of our time in the village was spent getting to know the villagers. Nestor, our translator, brought his drum and we had a lot of fun taking pictures and dancing with the women and children! The kids really enjoyed having their pictures taken and Ana even got to back a baby!

– Team Nestor

(Alex, Katie, Ana and Nicole)

After a the chief meeting, Nestor starts up a beat on his drum for a dance party!

To no surprise, Nestor jumps in the middle to break it down

Summer Fellowship Application due in 2 weeks, Update to March Tour dates & a VIRTUAL Info Session

Posted on March 6, 2014March 12, 2014 by samreilley

The Summer Fellowship application deadline is just 2 WEEKS AWAY and spots are filling up fast! Get your application in today for an opportunity to join the CWS Team in Ghana and bring clean drinking water to an entire community!

We’ve had some updates to our March tour list! CWS representatives will be on campus talking more about our organization and the fellowship program. We would love to meet you!

Tuesday March 11th 4:30pm Goucher College Chemistry Club Meeting, Location: Huffberger 223

Tuesday March 11th 8:15pm Goucher College International Student Association Meeting in the Welsh Piano Room

Wednesday March 12th 7:30pm St. Mary’s College of Maryland Amnesty International Club Meeting, Location: TBD

Wednesday March 12th at 8:15pm St.Mary’s College of Maryland Sociology Club Meeting, Location: TBD

Thursday March 13th 6:00pm University of Maryland, Global Health Planning Class in SGUMD Bldg lll Room 5129

Tuesday March 18th 3:00pm MIT Drinking Water Treatment in Developing Countries Class, E25-116

Wednesday March 26th 5:00pm Loyola University of Maryland Info Session, Location: Maryland Hall Room 241

Don’t see your school listed or can’t make it to the scheduled times? Join us for our first ever VIRTUAL info session! Executive Director and Co-founder Kate Clopeck will be hosting a live info session on Tuesday March 11th at 7:00pm EST. Tune in from where ever you are to learn more about the program! You must REGISTER beforehand!

Updated March Campus Tour Schedule!

Posted on February 28, 2014March 5, 2014 by samreilley

What an eventful month of February! It was such a blast running around to different universities to talk to more students about how they can get involved. Take a look and see where will be this March to learn more about the fellowship program and meet past fellows!

Monday March 3rd Georgia Tech Engineers Without Borders Meeting, Location: TBD

Monday March 3rd 5:00pm George Washington University Info Session in Ross Hall, Room 116A

Tuesday March 4th Georgia Tech Engineers World Health Meeting, Location: TBD

Tuesday March 4th West Virginia University Info Session Mountain Lair, Blackwater Room

Tuesday March 11th 4:30pm Goucher College Chemistry Club Meeting, Location: TBD

Tuesday March 11th 7:00pm Goucher College International Student Association Meeting in the Welsh Piano Room

Wednesday March 12th 7:30pm St. Mary’s College of Maryland Amnesty International Club Meeting, Location: TBD

Wednesday March 12th at 8:15pm St.Mary’s College of Maryland Sociology Club Meeting, Location: TBD

Thursday March 13th 6:00pm University of Maryland, Global Health Planning Class in SGUMD Bldg lll Room 5129

Tuesday March 18th 3:00pm MIT Drinking Water Treatment in Developing Countries Class, E25-116

Wednesday March 26th 5:00pm Loyola University of Maryland Info Session, Location: TBD

Don’t see your school on the list and would love to host CWS on your campus?

Contact Sam at sreilley@communitywatersolutions.org to set it up!

Although applications for the Summer Program are due on March 21st, we are accepting Fellows on a rolling basis and the program is filling up fast! Early applicants not only have a better chance of securing a spot in the program, but they also have more time to fundraise their Fellowship Fee. Apply now!

Want to learn more about Community Water Solutions? Follow us on Instagram and Facebook! We update both accounts daily with pictures from the field and other updates from Ghana. You can also learn more about the Fellowship by reading this FAQ.

Campus Tour Schedule

Posted on February 10, 2014February 26, 2014 by samreilley

We are so excited to announce our campus tour schedule for this semester! For the first time ever, CWS’ Director of Operations, Sam Reilley, will be heading out to California to reach out to students on the West Coast! We are so excited to share more about our work and to get more awesome students involved in the fellowship program!

Tuesday Feb.11^th 10:30am MIT, DLab Class, Rm 1-138

Thursday Feb.13^th Saint Lawrence University, Location: TBD

Thursday Feb.13^th 1:00pm Goucher College Nonprofits class

Thursday Feb.13^th 7:00pm Clark College Global Health Info Session, Sackler S121

Thursday Feb.13^th 8:00pm Clark College Amnesty International Meeting, Sackler 122

Monday Feb.17^th 5:00pm Skidmore College Info Session, Emerson Auditorium

Tuesday Feb. 18^th 11:00am St. Joseph’s University Info Session, Barbelin Room 306

Tuesday Feb.18^th 4:00pm University of Maryland class, Location: TBD

Wednesday Feb. 19th 12pm University of Pennsylvania Lunch Presentation hosted by the Wharton Social Impact Club, Location: TBD

Wednesday Feb.19^th 4:15pm Pitzer College Info Session, Avery 226

Wednesday Feb.19^th 3:00pm University of Pennsylvania Info Session, Stiteler Hall, Classroom B21

Wednesday Feb.19^th 5:30pm Sewanee: The University of the South Info Session, Spencer 173

Wednesday Feb.19^th 8:00pm University of Pennsylvania Engineers without Borders Meeting, John Hunstman Hall

Thursday Feb. 20^th 11:00am Waterworks Museum Boston, MA

Thursday Feb. 20^th 5:00pm Occidental College Info Session in Johnson Hall 302

Thursday Feb.20th 7:00pm Brown University Info Session, Sayles Hall 105

Monday Feb. 24th 11am Fairfield University Economic Development Class, Location: TBD

Monday Feb. 24^th 12:30pm University of Pacific Info Session, Raymond Lodge 2nd floor Conference Room

Monday Feb.24th 5:00pm Sonoma State University Model UN Club Meeting, Student Center, Erin Fisher Room

Tuesday Feb. 25th 2:30pm Fairfield University Info Session, the Kelley Center

Tuesday Feb. 25^th 4:00pm University of Southern California Info Session, ACC 312

Tuesday Feb.25^th 8:45 am Fairfield University Environmental Science Class, 332 Bannow Science Center

Wednesday Feb.26^th Claremont McKenna College Social Enterprise Initiatives Meeting, Location: TBD

Monday March 3^rd Georgia Tech Engineers Without Borders Meeting, Location: TBD

Monday March 3rd 5:00pm George Washington University Info Session in Ross Hall, Room 116A

Tuesday March 4^th Georgia Tech Engineers World Health Meeting, Location: TBD

Tuesday March 4^th West Virginia University Info Session Mountain Lair, Blackwater Room

Tuesday March 18th 3pm MIT Drinking Water Treatment in Developing Countries Class, E25-116

Don’t see your school on the list and would love to host CWS on your campus?

Contact Sam at sreilley@communitywatersolutions.org to set it up!

2014 Winter Fellows bring clean drinking water to 2,608 people!!!

Posted on January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 by samreilley

It was just 2 weeks ago to the day that our 2014 Winter fellows were headed into their communities to say their last goodbye! The office life is now a lot quieter without them busting in to fill us in on their exciting days out in the field! Whether it was laughs about a taxi driver attempting to pump up his flat tire with a bike pump, an awesome day in the schools teaching kids about the importance of drinking clean water, a thrilling soccer game played amongst two neighboring villages or the fellows explaining the eagerness of their communities to taste the clean water for the very first time! Your enthusiasm and passion will continue on within CWS and in the communities that you worked in!

We had such a blast with all of you and can not think of a better way to ring in the new year than to bring clean drinking water to more than 2,608 people!! You should be so proud of what you accomplished. We thank you for your hard work and dedication and wish you the best in your life adventures! You most definitely will be missed by all of us!

Many Cheers,

The CWS Team

Alex, Sara, Thalia, TJ & Emily in Kuldanayili/Yapalsi

Kallie, Brittany, MJ, Danielle & Nestor in Gurumanchayili

Jimmy, Serena, Amin, Caroline & Miriam in Namdu

Rachael, Anna, Wahab, Jenna & Bimala in Chandanyili

Voices from the Field: Team Wahab

Posted on January 11, 2014January 14, 2014 by samreilley

A Haiku:

In Chandanyili,

Opening day was SUPER.

Clean water for all!

Yesterday was opening day for CWS’s new water treatment center in Chandanyili. Several Fulani women (a nomadic group from Mali and Nigeria) were the first to arrive at the center near the dugout. The two entrepreneurs, Abiba and Zaharawu, were excited to begin filling safe storage containers and began right away. At first, only ten or so households arrived, but before we knew it, a large crowd formed near the Polytank, all ready to fill their buckets with safe, clean drinking water. Bimala helped several women clean their safe storage containers with soap and clean water from the Polytank before filling up, while Rachael and Anna helped record the number of customers at the center, and Jenna and Wahab distributed the last few safe storage containers on the list. Since some of the Fulani women don’t speak Dagbani, Jenna and Wahab worked to triple- and quadruple-translate the proper way to use each safe storage container.

Excitement amongst the women grew as the first few safe storage containers were filled with clear, clean water. Several women filled their lids with clean water and passed it around to get a taste. Abiba and Zaharawu quickly got into a rhythm – one would fill safe storage containers while another collected money and helped others lift the buckets to carry on their heads. After three hours of successful clean water distribution, the Polytank was empty and we counted our sales. We filled 64 (of 67) safe storage containers! We can’t wait to check in on each household and see how they like the water next week!

~Anna, Bimala, Jenna, Rachael