Blog

On the road again!

Posted on February 12, 2015May 1, 2015 by admin

Coming soon to a campus near you!

Ti dema – You’re invited! Come out and learn about working in Ghana this June.

Don’t see your school on this list? Contact kathryn@sahaglobal.org or join us for a virtual info session.

University of Maine Info Session: Wed Feb 18 @ 12pm, Dunn 115

Colby Info Session: Wed Feb 18 @ 7pm, Lovejoy 207

Virtual Info Session: Wed Feb 18 @ 5pm EST

MIT Info Session: Thurs Feb 19 @5:30 pm, N51-350 (changed: Virtual Info Session!)

Middlebury Info Session: Tues Feb 24 @ 7pm, McCardell Bicentennial Hall 219

Virginia Tech Info Session: Tues Feb 24 @ 6:30 pm, Seitz Room 105

George Washington University Info Session: Wed. Feb 25 @ 5pm, 950 New Hampshire Ave. NW, 6th Flr Conference Room

George Washington University Info Session: Wed Feb 25 @7pm, Marvin 538

West Coast Virtual Info Session: Wed Feb 25 @ 5 pm PST

Georgetown Info Session: Thurs Feb 26 @ 5pm, ICC 302P

Georgia Tech Engineers Without Bordered Info Session: Mon Mar 2 @ 6pm, location tbd

Connecticut College: Tues Mar 3 @ 4:30pm, New London Hall room 101

Emory University Foundations of Global Health Class Presentation: Tues Mar 3 @ 10am, 207 White Hall

Emory University GlobeMed Club Info Session: Tues Mar 3 @ 7pm, location tbd

Tufts Info Session: Wed, March 4 @ 12:20 pm, Cabot 206

Virtual Info Session: Wed March 4 @ 8 pm EST

Georgia Tech Association of Environmental Engineers & Scientists: Thurs Mar 5th @ 11am, Ford Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) building, Room L1175

Skidmore College Info Session: Mon March 9th @ 5pm, Emerson Auditorium

Boston College Info Session: Thurs March 12 @ 5:15, Gasson Hall 305 Auditorium

Virtual Info Session: Wed March 11 @ 8 pm EST

MIT Career Panel: Tues March 17, 3-270 @ 2:30-4 pm

Lehigh Info Sessions: Wed March 18, 12:30-1:30 @ STEPS 102, 4-5 @ Maginnes 112

Virtual Info Session: Wed March 18 @ 8pm EST

St. Joseph’s University Info Session: Thurs March 19 @ 11 am, Campion: Sunroom #2

UVA Development Workshop: Sat March 21 @ 8am, South Meeting Room or the Commonwealth Room of Newcomb Hall

UMD Global Health Class: Tues Mar 24th @ 12pm, location tbd

BU Info Session: Tues March 24 @ 4pm, SMG Building Room 412

UMD Anthropology Student Association Info Session: Tue Mar 24th @ 6pm, location tbd

Virtual Info Session: Tues March 24 @ 8pm EST

Virtual Info Session: Wed April 1 @ 8pm EST

Virtual Info Session: Wed April 8 @ 8pm EST

LAST CALL! Virtual Info Session: Wed April 15 @ 7pm EST

Tufts Development Conference: Sun April 19th @ 8am

Join Saha for Webinar Wednesdays

Posted on February 4, 2015January 29, 2019 by admin

We know not everyone can attend one of our events around the country, so…

We’re happy to announce that we will be hosting FREE, online info sessions!

Grab your laptop, relax on your couch, and join us to learn more about how you can get involved with a rural village in Northern Ghana. Spaces are limited!

Register below for login instructions:

Wed Feb 27th @ 5:30pm ET:
https://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=ED58DE81834731

Wed March 20th @ 5:30 pm ET:
https://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=ED58DE81844F3C

Wed April 3rd @ 5:30 pm ET:
http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=ED54DB87854B3B

4 New Businesses Means… A Winter Program Wrap-Up

Posted on January 19, 2015 by admin

It’s a bittersweet moment for Saha. We’re saying goodbye to 14 Field Reps in Accra – they’re hoping on planes and flying back home to school, jobs and family. At the same time, we’re excited to welcome 10 more entrepreneurs to the Saha Global family, in the two new villages of Kpanshegu and Moya, and two current partner villages of Djelo and Tacpili. We will let these numbers speak to the hard work of Field Reps past and present:

178 women have started small businesses with the help of Saha Field Reps.

They own and operate 74 Water Treatment Businesses which serve 39,534 people.

They also run 8 Solar Charging Businesses, serving 3,704 people.

100% of these businesses are in operation today.

We want to take this opportunity to congratulate Jake, Shak, Julia, Sofia, Marlena, Tj, Julia, Wahab, Jenni, Orlando, Peter, Allison, Marsha, Sarah, Amin, Kiana, Matt, Kristina and Paul for their hard work in their communities. It was such a pleasure to work with this dedicated group.

Nawuni labsa naa.

Kathryn & Sam

Meet Our Entrepreneurs: Zenabu from Changyili

Posted on January 14, 2015January 13, 2015 by admin

Zenabu is one of Saha Global’s newest entrepreneurs. She has been working alongside two other women from her community, Damu and Fuseini, to run the water business in Changyilli since June 2014. Before working with Saha, Zenabu was a farmer. Her favorite crop to grow is groundnuts (peanuts). She still finds the time to work on the farm for most of the day, opening the water treatment center in the early mornings and evenings.

Zenabu is a mother to eight children but sadly, two of them passed away when they were very young. She really enjoys being able to provide clean drinking water to the village of Changyili and thinks that it is very important for children to drink healthy water. Zenabu had a great time working with Field Reps Jeremy, Cara, Selana and Brielle last summer and frequently asks Shak, who monitors Changyili, to send her greetings to them!

Voices from the field: Tacpuli’s Building, A Reflection Poem

Posted on January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 by admin

The chatter of the village
The rustling of leaves
Staring at the image
Of the gold, green trees

Bright was the blinding sun
O’er the straw roofs it shone
On salimingas whom sleep had won
How tired they both moaned

All of sudden work begun
Plaster, plaster cried the sleepy we
But no work was to be done
Leave it to us and sleep said he

Half past noon still sitting were we
But Arose did the magnificent building
Just typical Ghanaian magic you see
Yet there was no doorbell to ring

Hunger struck us one by one
So we snuck into Hustla’s car
Until we could be seen by none
Yummy yummy hardy har har

Chicken and rice again (sigh)
How I’d kill for a shake
Oh when oh when
Will I have cake

Horah horray callou callay
O’ Triumphant is today

-Matt, Julia, Kristina & Paul

Meet Our Field Reps: Camille Conner

Posted on January 13, 2015February 9, 2015 by admin

My name is Camille and I was a Saha Global Field Rep in June of 2014. I’m 19 years old, but I spent 13 of those years living and studying outside of the US, where I was born. After coming back to the States to study biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, I was itching to get back into international work. I found Saha Global through the Engineers Without Borders club at my school and instantly agreed with their commitment to sustainability and women’s empowerment. The Saha Global Leadership Program encompassed so many things that are so important to me such as health education, water crisis awareness, and cultural exploration.

Through attending this program, I learned about the culture and people of Ghana as a resident as opposed to simply as a tourist. I worked in the village of Sabonjida for three weeks while living in a compound in the town of Salaga with seven other field reps and our leader. Shopping for groceries in the local market and spending long days by the shore of Lake Volta gave me a true understanding of how my colleagues in the village live. I can already tell that the skills I acquired while working in the Saha Global Leadership Program will be invaluable to me in the future: tolerance, public speaking, stamina, and culinary creativity are just a few.

I remember being shocked at first by our drastic cultural differences, but soon overcoming them to bond deeply with the women that we worked with. My favorite memory from the trip was when we were collecting the water for our first round of treatment at the center. My Saha Global team and I struggled carrying small buckets of water while the village entrepreneurs, Mary, Florence, Elizabeth, and Mercy, carried large tubs of on their heads without breaking a sweat. Though we could not speak the same language, the eight of us had the best time as the field reps attempted to keep up with the women we were supposed to be training. Since returning home, it has been comforting to be able to keep updated on the successes of the entrepreneurs in Sabonjida. This experience further intensified my interest in international development work and I look forward to following, and hopefully being involved in, future Saha Global projects.

Want to learn more about Camille’s experience or have any specific questions? Camille would love to tell you more! Feel free to email her at clconner@usc.edu Also take a look at what she’s up to now!

Voices from the Field: A Moya Opening Day Poem

Posted on January 12, 2015 by admin

OPENING DAY at Moya was a great success,

Without the business women, it would have been a mess.

We arrived in the village when the air was still chilly.

Children running around, willy nilly.

The women of the village were assembled with their buckets,

Handing out lollipops caused quite a ruckus.

All of the children were so happy with water bottles in hand,

it was like a party at the polytank stand.

The village said bye-bye to the dugout water filled with poo,

as we drove away in our taxi, Moya shouted wahoo, wahoo!

Fatima, Fatimatah and Hamshaw with their new business

The line for water on opening day - look at those blue safe storage containers! — The line for water on opening day – look at those blue safe storage containers!

Team Moya - TJ, Orlando, Kiana, Jenni, Fatima, Fatimata, Hamshaw and Julia — Team Moya – TJ, Orlando, Kiana, Jenni, Fatima, Fatimata, Hamshaw and Julia. Saha’s 75th water business wouldn’t be possible without their hard work!

Voices from the Field: Team Amin with Sarah, Jake & Marsha

Posted on January 10, 2015 by admin

Amin, Sarah, a Djelo elder, Jake & Marsha

We began our solar journey by meeting with the chief and elders of the village to introduce the solar charging business. We brought along the batteries and lanterns to show and explain to them what they will be using instead of the harmful kerosene and torch lights. Without Amin, our cultural liaison, we would be unable to work together and communicate our ideas. Although they have never seen these lanterns before, they quickly grasped the overall benefit that these new materials would provide. It is good to know that these families will no longer be exposed to the hazardous materials they were used to using, such as kerosene lamps and lead acid batteries.

In 2013, Saha Global pitched a water treatment center to the chief and elders of Djelo (pronounced Jell-oh) in hopes of increasing access to clean water. Women from the community fill their water buckets twice a day. Jake and Marsha checked out the water dugouts and noticed that the women were doing a good job of maintaining past efforts. Due to their dedication and diligence, we were excited to introduce them to this new solar business concept. The community was very excited about commencing the project and quickly provided the necessary information to begin.

Day 2 consisted of building the solar charging center and getting our hands dirty! We really enjoyed this process since it did not require translation and we could all work together as a team. The villagers showed us how to build in their community, which was a novel process for us and we learned how to carry the bricks on our heads like the local villagers! However, we got the hang of it quickly and created what we think will be a great and long-lasting building for the business.

Making cement — *Some Djelo’s making cement*

Day 3 & 4 have been our longest days so far. We hired a carpenter to do the roof, which gave us a lot of down time to play with the kids and to get to know the women a little bit better. Sarah and Jake had a great time playing football and other games with the children while Marsha learned how to swaddle a baby and even carried one on her back! Our team is truly enjoying the experience and getting to know everyone in the community.

FullSizeRender — *Djelo’s Solar Charging Center!*

Today was our 5th day in the wonderful village of Djelo. We are now in the process of building the solar panels and training the women on how to run the business successfully. It will be exciting to see the community use their fully charged lanterns in just a few short days!!!!!!

-Sarah, Jake & Marsha

*Jake & Sarah entertaining some kiddos with a game of tag!*

Voices from the Field: Team Wahab with Aly, Marlena & Sofia

Posted on January 8, 2015November 24, 2015 by admin

Despa from Team Wahab!

We are only a few days away from Opening Day and our days at Kpanshegu, our village of 71 households about an hour away from Tamale, have been eyeopening and fulfilling. Our community meeting went splendidly and we met Adamu, Jamila and Sikina who are the fabulous entrepreneurs at Kpanshegu’s Saha Water Project. Our first day of training included filling several buckets of dugout water into the blue water drums. Everyone pitched in and Aly even handled some on her head. We also taught the women how to roll the alum into balls. The villagers were naturals at creating these balls which are swirled in the blue drums. This process allows the dirt from the dugout water to fall to the bottom so that the water is clear, but it is not clean just yet! We let the water with alum set overnight to make sure ALL of the dirt, grim and ickiness settled.

The treatment process - Ademu, Sikina and Jamila collect and treat dugout water with alum to reduce turbidity — The treatment process – Adamu, Sikina, Aly, Wahab and Jamila collect and treat dugout water with alum to reduce turbidity

Alum balls! These cause dirt to settle out of the dugout water. Simple technologies in action! — Alum balls! These cause dirt to settle out of the dugout water. Simple, local and effective technologies in action!

The next day we arrived and could not wait to see if our alum had done its job…it was like Christmas Day! When we walked up to the blue drums and opened the lid…PRESTO…clear water!!! It’s basically chemical magic. It was great to see the look on everyone’s face to see the transition from brown water to clear water and it felt good to share that with Adamu, Jamila and Sikina. We then showed how to assemble the safe storage buckets (which we will distribute to each household) so they know how to remedy the situation if something breaks. The women who will run the business are complete rockstars. After Marlena demonstrated some of the problems that might happen with the buckets such as leaks, the women jumped in right away to participate.

Team Wahab loads up their taxi to head out to Kpanshegu

Aly gets serious about polytank cleaning.

Today was spend getting some last minute aesthetics together before we finish building the business. Sofia and Marlena painted the metal stand a beautiful blue hue and Aly wiggled inside the polytank to scrub it down. All of us, including the women, cleaned the rest of the polytank together while the painted dried. Tomorrow we will finish building the business and finish the last step in making the water safe for drinking…we are really pumped!

Aly puts the finishing touches on the new polytank stand!

We are also super excited to attend the Kpanshegu Dambaa Festival tomorrow and dance like no one’s watching!

Team Wahab poses with the chief of Kpanshegu in his palace.

Voices From the Field: Team TJ with Orlando, Julia, Kiana & Jenni

Posted on January 6, 2015January 6, 2015 by admin

Today was our third day out in Moya with TJ. The village is smaller with a lot of Fulani families and lots of friendly kids. Our first two days we spent meeting with the chief and elders and the community to explain how we wanted to bring clean water to their village. Today we started training two of the community-selected women named Fatima, Fatimata, and the daughter of the third woman, Maria. The walk to the dugout is longer than in the other villages we’ve seen, and very dusty, but we were accompanied by a gaggle of children, some very bold, some terrified of the salamingas trying to pick them up.

Team TJ loads up the taxi for a drum delivery

Jenni took lead on the first day of training which involved showing the women how to fill the three 200-liter drums with the garawas and using the alum to start cleaning the water. The women are experts on alum-ball-making, so they sped through the process. We left the three blue drums full and treated with alum, so when we go back tomorrow the sediment will be settled out.

Julia works with Fatima, Fatimata and Maria to roll the alum into balls

Fatima, Fatimata, and Maria treat their first batch of dugout water with alum.

Back in the village, we went into the chief’s palace to say goodbye, and we were gifted with a chicken and yams, which are currently sitting in the trunk of TJ’s taxi. We are headed to the market this afternoon to pick up locks and other small things we need, as well as the large polytank in which the alum-treated water is treated with aquatabs to make it safe for drinking.

Kiana and TJ pose with the most recent addition to the Moya team. Delicious!

The community of Moya - the chief's palace is on the left! — The community of Moya – the chief’s palace is on the left!

Julia poses with a gift from the community