Damu is one of our newest water entrepreneurs! She opened her business this past June after working with 2014 Summer Field Reps Haley, Hannah, Julia and Caroline. She is 48 years old and is the mother to six children. In addition to running her water business, Damu is also a farmer. Her favorite crop to grow is groundnuts (known to many of us as peanuts)! So far, Damu has really enjoyed her work and says that she is very happy to be providing clean drinking water to her community.
Saha Global Leadership Virtual Info Sessions
This month we will be offering opportunities for people to learn more about Global Leadership Program virtually by hosting information sessions via webinar. During the info session, you will get to learn more about what it means to be a Saha Field Representative, hear from a past Field Rep about his or her experience and have the chance to ask questions!
Register for info session by clicking on the dates below:
All the webinars will be held on Wednesdays at 5:00pm EST.
The next Global Leadership program will take place this Winter from December 28th, 2014 to January 19th, 2015. Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis and we encourage you to apply early to secure your spot.
Already know you want to join us for the Winter Program? Apply here!
Meet Our Field Reps: Janna San Jaun
My name is Janna San Juan. During the Winter Program 2012, I was a 21-year-old student studying environmental engineering at Georgia Tech. Initially, when I applied to the Program, I wanted to be a Saha Global Field Rep because I wanted to experience first-hand the water crisis in Africa. The idea of going to that exotic continent excited me, even though I was almost scared to go; how many people are willing to travel to a place where it’s possible get malaria or be bitten by some strange insect? (In case you are wondering, this was easier to avoid than I thought.) By the end of the program, not only did I gain field experience with water treatment, I came back home with more friends, memories of playing games with the village children, unforgettable stories, and a great increase in confidence in what I wanted to do with my life.
Friends and family members gave many “oohs” and “ahhs” for how I was sacrificing my time, but this trip gave me more than I could have imagined. It gave me the Big Picture. It’s easy to get tied up in studying the calculations and intricacies in water treatment solutions in developed countries. With the simplicity of Saha’s treatment process, it was easy to understand the purpose of each step. Layering what I learned in my studies on top of what I learned about the treatment implemented in the Saha villages helped with understanding my schoolwork. Having this stronger foundation in the basic concepts overflowed into how I now contribute to my professional work. I now work for a drinking water treatment supplier/manufacturer near Atlanta, GA. It was my first choice of employment, and I have trouble imagining obtaining this job without having had such a fantastic learning experience with Saha.
A couple other ways the Program continues to live on in my life: I have stayed involved by participating in a competition hosted by Saha in 2012, and I have also kept in touch with friends who were either on the same Program or on a later one. My time in Ghana was less than a month, but it continues to be a positive influence on me years after my experience with Saha.
Want to learn more about Janna’s experience or have any specific questions? Janna would love to tell you more! Feel free to email her at [email protected] Also check out what she’s up to now!
CWS is Now Saha Global!
Dear CWS Donors, Supporters, and Friends,
I am thrilled to share some exciting news: Community Water Solutions has changed our name to Saha Global!
The new Saha identity is a reflection of our tremendous growth over the past six years. In November 2013, with the help of Ben Powell and Mark Moeremans, we piloted our new solar electricity program in the village of Wambong. This pilot was a huge success and lead to a new partnership with Boston-based company Next Step Living. Thanks to funding from their philanthropic program, Next Step Giving, we have been able to rapidly grow our solar program and have now launched five solar businesses that provide access to electricity to 2,500 people. We have also continued to expand our impact in water and are currently serving 38,108 people in rural Ghana with our 71 water businesses.
As Saha Global continues to grow our water and solar businesses, we remain committed to long-term monitoring in our current partner-communities, which we believe is the key to our 100% sustainability rate.
I am also very excited to share our new video, which you can view above. When you watch this video, I hope that you feel as proud as I do about Saha’s impact, which would not have been possible with your generous support.
If you would like a new Saha Global sticker, enter your address here and we will mail you one!
-Kate
Saha Global
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Meet Our Entrepreneurs: Abiba From Wambong
Abiba, or as she is affectionately called, Chang Chang, runs both the water and solar businesses in the village of Wambong. She is a wife, farmer, and mother of 8. Chang Chang joined the Saha Global team in June 2010 when she partnered with a team of Summer Field Reps to open her water business. After successfully running her water business for three years, Chang Chang was nominated by her community to also run Wambong’s solar business. The solar charging center opened in November of 2013 and since then, Chang Chang and her business partner, Salima, have more than tripled their annual income. These amazing women were even the first women in their village to open their own bank account!
Meet Our Field Reps: Zander Rounds
My name is Zander Rounds, I’m from Boston and I participated in the winter 2011-2012 Saha Global Leadership Program. I just recently graduated from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service with an international politics major. A couple years ago, having studied models of international development from a theoretical perspective, I was drawn to Saha Global. Their leadership program seemed like an ideal way to gain on-the-ground field experience and perhaps put what I had been studying into practice. To be quite honest, I also entertained a vague notion that I wanted to “help people” but did not quite understand what that meant.
My time with Saha Global exceeded my expectations, challenging my assumptions about the role I can play as a privileged outsider. In a word, I learned that, though I went to Ghana thinking that I was going to “develop” others, it was in fact I who was “developed”—by the superstar local staff and the energetic villagers of the village that I worked in. With the help of these wonderful people, I developed a more critical and nuanced understanding of the challenges and benefits of doing international development work.
In a sector of society that, in my opinion, is filled with people who with the best of intentions go out into the world to help only to inadvertently cause harm, Saha Global seems to do things right. I was so excited about the Saha model that I spent the following summer working as an intern in their US office, during which time I gained valuable insight into the inner workings of a dynamic and growing social business. Soon, I am off to China. I was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research on Chinese-African relations, an issue that I actually became aware while I was a Saha Field Rep. I am grateful for the knowledge and skills I gained through working with Saha Global and excited to take them with me on my newest adventure.
Want to learn more about Zander’s experience or have any specific questions? Zander would love to tell you more! Feel free to email him at [email protected] Also check out what he’s up to now!
Looking Back on 2 Years in Ghana
One of my favorite Ghanaian expressions is “small small” or “bayla bayla” as it’s known in Dagbani. Ghanaians use this expression all the time. Let me give you a few examples. You go to a chop bar in Tamale to get waakye, a local, favorite dish of rice, beans and other delicious, spicy toppings. The woman working at the chop bar starts to serve you waakye and motions towards the palm oil. You say, “small small” to mean just put a little, not too much. Or you are learning Dagbani, the most widely spoken language in Tamale, trying out some phrases with Dagomba friends. They say, “Oh you try” and you respond, “small small”. You are a CWS field staffer riding around on motos day in and day out. It just so happens you need to replace the piston and the rings on the moto. The fitter (mechanic) tells you to move “small small” so that the moto will be “free”. The list goes on… What I’ve taken from this whole “small small” business is that as long as you are moving “small small”, you are moving forward!
When I moved to Ghana in June 2012, I did not think I would live here for 2 years, although I am very happy now that I did. I had no trouble finding a house in Ghana. Landlords in Ghana usually conduct the same kind of screening as the landlords often do in the United States with the help of AAOA (https://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/tenant-screening-background-checks/). Once the tenant’s rental history is found to be clean and free of any criminal records, the person is given the key to the house. Truth be told, it all started “small small”… learning to ride a moto, figuring out where to buy food, navigating Tamale, learning Dagbani, working with the CWS team, meeting the entrepreneurs for the first time, encountering various challenges in the CWS communities and out on the “rough roads”. In the beginning, I didn’t feel like I was adjusting well. I found the heat unbearable, I felt lonely, I did not think I was qualified for the position but I kept trying and moving “small small”. And “small small” turned in to feeling comfortable in Tamale, being confident in my role at CWS, truly enjoying my work and getting to know my coworkers, developing good relationships with the CWS communities and entrepreneurs and feeling like I was positively contributing to this idea and project greater than myself. This upcoming September I am heading to Dublin, Ireland to get my MSc in Global Health at Trinity College. I hope to focus on women’s health and technology in developing countries. I know I would not be on this path if it were not for my experience with CWS in Ghana.
So without more small small babble… here are some pictures looking back on the last 2 years. The “small small” moments to the big ones. A big thank you to my CWS family: Kate, Sam, Kathryn, Chelsea, Shak, Peter, Wahab, Amin, Eric, Mark, Yacabu, the CWS board members, the fellowship translators, the fellows, the fellowship taxi drivers and all of the CWS partners for this fantastic opportunity. It has been a pleasure working with you! To all my friends and family who supported me and continue to support me, thank you! It has been quite the ride. Ghana, I will miss you-ohh! Until next time.
-Brianán
Fall Fellowship Application Deadline August 18th!
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 [email protected]
CWS now in 71 communities!
This is my first official post as Ghana Country Director and what an exciting time it is to be updating everyone following the CWS blog on what we’ve been up to since the 2014 Summer fellows left.
Thanks to the fellows, CWS has opened water treatment businesses in eleven more communities: Original Kabache, Sabonjida, Janakpam, Manguli II, Wuvogu, Wuvogumani, Changyili, Jangbarayili, Balamposo, Kagbal, and Sagbarigu, as well as set up a solar business in Yapalsi. This brings the total number of communities we are working in to 71! In addition to the newly established water and solar businesses, nine villages are now independent: Tijo, Tindun, Libi, Changashi, Kpenchila, Nyamaliga, Buja, Kushini, and Zanzugu. At Community Water Solutions, self-sufficiency is our end goal in the communities where we work. Data collected over the years of household visits we have done since the inception of these businesses has shown that the centers have been up and running and community members have purchased water at the center on consistent bases. The staff at CWS will still monitor and assist the women entrepreneurs to ensure the centers continue to run successfully, but we are proud to add them to our list of 23 total independent villages!
On the monitoring side of operations, going to the field this week with Amin, Shak, Wahab, and Eric has been a lot of fun. Figuring out the logistics of integrating our new communities into our existing monitoring schedules was challenging, but the guys have done an amazing job with handling the extra responsibility. Having heard so much from the fellows about the women and community members, I was really eager to go and see the new centers for myself! On Monday, Amin and I went to Jakapam, Manguli II, Wuvogu, and Wuvogumani. While the fellows were still here monitoring in their villages after opening day, community members of Janakpam had made it known during household visits that they felt the water tasted too strongly of alum, the chemical the women use in the first stage of treatment. This is typically a learning process when centers are first established; it is not an easy task to ensure an appropriate amount of alum is used to treat the turbidity of the water while also meeting the taste preferences of consumers. When the women heard of this, they wasted no time coming up with a creative solution: adding water from the polytank to the dugout water in the blue drums so that the alum would settle, then adding one chlorine tablet per blue drum scooped in to the polytank. This worked for the water they sold during the first days after the center opened and by the time Amin and I came to speak with the women on Monday, the problem had been completely fixed and community members no longer had any complaints about the taste of the water.
While monitoring with Eric on Wednesday, Arasheitu, one of the entrepreneurs running the business in Kagbal, joined us for household visits. As a way to gauge our efforts to educate community members on the health benefits of drinking clean water, one of the questions we ask households when monitoring is, “Do you know why dugout water is unsafe to drink?” Anytime we asked this question and a community member would respond with, “No,” Arasheitu stepped in to explain why dugout water was unsafe to drink and the negative implications it has for health. Community members also told Eric and I that Arasheitu and her colleagues at the center, Adamu and Sanatu, were teaching people how to collect rainwater properly and reminding people to come and refill at the center with their safety storage containers on a regular basis. It was really amazing to see the level of Arasheitu’s initiative and her enthusiasm for helping her community. Eric and I also lucked out because one of the women in Kagbal had recently given birth to a baby boy and community members were celebrating the naming ceremony. Thanks to the CWS fellows and the women of Kagbal hard at work running the treatment center, this new addition to the 
community, Abrahim, will always have the option of clean drinking water. That is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job as Ghana Country Director.
I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and interacting with the entrepreneurs and community members of the newly established treatment centers. As with all of the entrepreneurs we work with, these women are creative, kind, and devoted to improving the lives and health of the members of their communities. Their level of enthusiasm for running the treatment centers and the amount of hard work they put in to make sure their community has the option of clean drinking water never ceases to amaze me. I look forward to working with them during my time as Ghana Country Director.
To the 2014 Summer Fellows
Dear Jeremy, Selena, Cara, Brielle, Nicole S., Sarah S., Christina, Melissa, Claire B., Claire C., Josh, Sofia, Robert, Camille, Phoebe, Brandee, Elijah, Michaela, Abby F., Naomi, Danya, Ana B., Remy, Ben, Erin, Sarah R., Miles, Abby T., Kelly, Ann, Evan, Lexie, Kelli-Ann, Maggie, Haley, Caroline, Julia, Hannah, Nicole G., Ana CR, Alex, Katie, Sarah F., Linda, Lucas, and Nick,
It is hard to believe that the 46 of you are already heading home from Ghana this evening. 3 weeks has certainty flown by fast! It has been such a pleasure getting to know each of your during your time in Tamale. From the moment you arrived, you have impressed us with your knowledge, work ethic, and most of all, your desire to make a positive impact on the world around you. We are so proud of the work that you have accomplished during your time with CWS this summer. Thanks to each of you, 11 communities and approximately 4,000 people now have permanent access to safe drinking water and just over 500 people have access to solar electricity. 26 women entrepreneurs now have new businesses to run, and (thanks to your training), they are well equipped to handle any issues that may arise.
Thank you for choosing to spend the beginning of your summer working with Community Water Solutions. We are so lucky to have you all as members of the CWS team and can’t wait to see the incredible things that you will do for this world!
Sincerely,
Kate, Sam, and Brianan
