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CWS Announces Water Business Openings Live on the Radio in Tamale, Ghana

Posted on January 10, 2014January 14, 2014 by admin

Sam, B and P — Peter, Brianan and Sam at the 89.3 Fiila FM radio station after their interview with Samiell

Today was an exciting day for Community Water Solutions: four new water treatment centers opened for business and the CWS staff were interviewed live on 89.3 Fiila FM Tamale.

It all started yesterday when CWS Director of Operations, Sam, went to the Tamale radio station Fiila FM to buy the fellows tickets to a concert they were promoting for this weekend. What started off as jokes and pleasantries with the radio broadcaster Samiell, soon turned in to a serious discussion about bringing a few members of the CWS Ghana staff in for a radio interview. Samiell informed Sam that Fiila FM aired a program that morning about the water crisis in the Northern Region of Ghana and that they would be interested in having CWS live on his show the following day.

My phone rang soon after- it was Sam, “CWS is going to be on the radio tomorrow morning! Call Peter!”

“Wait what, how did you pull this off?” was my immediate reaction. But knowing Sam, she was serious. Peter, the CWS Project Manager for Ghana, had been talking about getting CWS on the radio in Tamale for months now; he was going to be stoked.

In the Northern Region of Ghana, everyone listens to the radio. There are broadcasts in Dagbani and English, meaning that you do not need to be literate or need to know English in order to listen. In a recent survey from 2011 run by the Government of Ghana, UNICEF, USAID and Ghana Health Services found here: they reported that in the Northern Region 41.2% of women between the ages of 15-49 years and 62.1% of men between the ages of 15-59 years had listened to the radio in the last week of being interviewed, making it the most popular form of mass media in the Northern Region.

Sam, Peter and I got to the Fiila FM radio station at 8 am this morning. “You’ll be on in 30 minutes”, the receptionist told us. At 8:38 am we made our way in to the recording studio. Samiell, the Fiila FM broadcaster, greeted us as the host of the program. I smiled upon hearing his smooth talking, radio announcer voice as he said, “Nice to have you Community Water Solutions”, putting extra emphasis on the end making it sound like “Soluuutions”.

Adjusting the mics — Peter and Brianan testing the mics. Testing 1-2 1-2.

We had prepped for the interview so that Peter would do the talking; Sam and I figured most people listening would be unable to understand our American accents. But Samiell wanted to hear from all of us. He asked us about CWS, what we do, where we get our funding, the districts in which we are working and about our most recently implemented communities. What a great day to be interviewed! Sam announced that as we were being broadcasted, there were four new water treatment centers opening in the communities of Dundo, Namdu, Guremancheyili and Chandanyili. Tomorrow will be the opening day for Kundanali/Yapalsi! Bringing the grand total of CWS communities up to 60!

Peter and I finished up the interview by making an announcement to all Fiila Fm listeners North of the Volta, which also applies to all of you blog readers out there: if you are living in a community without pumps, pipes, boreholes or filters drinking from a river, dam or open water source then contact CWS Project Manager Peter at (+233) 020- 639-8391.

At the end, Samiell asked Peter to summarize the interview and final announcement in Dagbani for all the non-English speakers tuning in to the show.

Without further ado, here is the live broadcast recording. Enjoy!

Brianán

Voices from the field: Team Shak

Posted on January 9, 2014January 14, 2014 by samreilley

Jazmin training the Dundo entrepreneurs!

Desibah (Good Morning in Dugbani)!! Our names are Meghan, Bryan, and Jazmin, aka the Dream Team. We, along with our awesome translator Shak, were assigned to the village Dundo for the CWS water sanitation center implementation. Our first day was short: we entered the community, which is approximately 70 households, and introduced ourselves to the elders, and learned the chief was away traveling. The elders were rocking Ray-Bans and lounging under a tree, so needless to say we had a good feeling about the village. Bryan delivered a stunning proposition to the elders, telling them about CWS and gauging their interest in the clean water project. With a quick yes, we were on our way.

The second day we got to meet the actual chief, and we entered into his palace to introduce ourselves. He already had the down-low on the project, and gave us his blessing to start our work. In leaving, Meghan fell off the bench and into the arms of an elder, which she soon learned meant that he was now her husband. Things move quickly in Ghana, apparently. Afterwards, we headed to the dugout accompanied by the village mason to start building the stand for the treatment center. Other men jumped in, and the foundation was set in no time. Bryan attempted to help but ended up breaking two bricks instead, and was consequently sent to go play with the kids. An hour of catch and a few games of soccer later, and it was time to go.

The next day, we held a community meeting. Around 70 people were there, and each of the group members took turns explaining the project. This was met with many “Mmmmm’s” and we soon headed to the dugout. The men had already filled the foundation and the stand was ready to be plastered. The mason got right to work mixing the concrete, and used a trowel to spread it over the foundation. Bryan again attempted to help, and while tossing the plaster onto the stand ended up missing completely and nearly hitting one of the workers. He was once again sent away to play with the kids.

The next morning was a hectic search for all the items needed to start training the women. Shak led us fearlessly through the back alleys of Tamale, and after lots of bartering and getting pulled over by the police, we made it to Dundo. Jazmin took over with the training of the women, and helped them fill the blue drums and use the alum on the water to make the particles settle. She also mastered balancing a small bucket on her head, to the amusement of all the women carrying giant drums of water on their heads with ease. After the center was all set, it was time to distribute the safe storage containers. Meghan took over now to give instructions to each household, and with Shak they managed to hand out 20 containers. Thoroughly exhausted, the team headed back to Gillbt.

Next, it was time to set up the polytank and complete the water treatment center. Walking from the village to the dugout, a few of the braver kids decided to hold our hands. Shortly after, each of us had a kid dangling off each finger. We set up the tank and the two women filled it with the clear water from the blue drums, with the help of the other women whom they coerced. After that, Bryan and Meghan did more distribution, tackling around 30 households. A train of about 15 little kids helped carry the safe storage containers for us, and were slightly distracting when we were trying to instruct the women.

Today was filled with more training of the two women running the center and more distribution. They learned how to use the aquatabs, how to manage their money and profits, and more about the bacteria in the dugout water that makes them sick. We then distributed containers to the other side of the village and gave the chief his own container. The kids were all in school, so our lunch was very quiet, and we got to ask Shak all about polygamous marriages. Our taxi driver, Ibrahim is planning on having 4 wives and Shak is planning on having 23 kids, fun fact. After lunch we had nothing else to do, so we went home. Opening day is just two days away, and we feel prepared and excited for the villagers to taste the clean water from the treatment center!

Meaghan distributing safe storage containers with the help of some village members

After the community meeting Meghan, Bryan & Jazmin jump in for an awesome pic

Voices from the Field: Team Amin

Posted on January 7, 2014January 14, 2014 by communitywatersolutions

It is crazy for us, a group of American college students, to think that for years the small village called Namdu 2 has been without a source of clean drinking water. We have now traveled to Namdu 2 for four days working to implement another CWS site.

Since our first visit, the village has been excited for a future of good health due to the water treatment center. Jimmy led the chief meeting and community meeting and got a good response from all involved. However we are still not sure if the chief is more excited about the clean water or the chance that one of these days we might bring him gin. but more to come on that.

You are probably wondering how we have gotten our equipment out to the village thus far. It’s definitely an African art to fit one taxi driver, one translator, three girls, 6’4″ Jimmy, plus the equipment in the taxi for our 1.5 hour drive. But Implementation must go on, and to date we have successfully taken our blue drums and polytank stand out to Namdu 2. game on Ghana!

With the exception of a few children who have run away screaming, the community has responded well to our presence. I think that from their point of view, everyday has a little bit of comedy from us, whether it be them laughing at our “work in progress” Dagbani, trying to carry water on our heads, or trying to play American classics (duck duck goose, Simon says, etc.)

We are excited for the days to come. We will train the women, distribute safe storage containers, and prepare for opening day, improving our Dagbani and farmers tans along the way. Namdu and CWS will now forever hold a place in our hearts. Who knows maybe the four of us will come back with Namdu tattooed on our arms (they could probably do that for us.) Each day we are excited to immerse ourselves in this village and see all the faces of Nambu on opening day.

JImmy and Miriam paint the new polytank stand — Jimmy and Miriam paint the new polytank stand

Serena playing duck duck goose with the kids!

Miriam pumping out water (this is not a CWS pump!)

Voices from the Field: Team Nestor

Posted on January 5, 2014January 5, 2014 by communitywatersolutions

Kallie, Danielle, Brittany and MJ with the chief and elders in Guremancheyili.

Yesterday was our second day in our village, Guremancheyili. Just the day before, we went to the village and met with the chief and elders to explain what Community Water Solutions is and our vision for the village. They welcomed us with open arms so we went back today to meet with the entire community. It was a little intimidating at first, as the entire village was there surrounding us (we were in the middle and had to spin around to talk to everyone). One thing we noticed is that all of the men sat together, all of the women in a different spot and all of the kids filling in the gaps. We had broken up our speech so all of us got to explain a different part of the process and bond with the community. They especially loved the beginning when we said “Despa” (good morning) and “Ebeera” (how did you sleep) to the entire village, and that helped set the tone for the meeting. At the end, our village asked a lot of questions but sometimes other village people would answer for them which showed us they were really getting the concepts down that we’d been explaining, which made us feel great. Afterwards, the entire village wanted to get in a picture with us followed by all of the women and then by the chief himself. Upon leaving we felt very welcome in the community and are excited to work with them over the coming weeks!!

After our visit to the village, our translator, Nestor, invited us over to his house for Pito, a homemade beer his mom makes. We were all extremely excited that Nestor was opening up to us and inviting us to meet his family. His house was a cute little area right off the road and was bustling with people while we were there (as he’d promised). We got to meet his parents, older brother, friend of his sisters, his best friend, his goat, his puppy (junior el Tigre), his many chickens, and his nieces and nephews. Everyone in our group LOVED the Pito, except Brittany, and would definitely drink it again. We drank it out of a calabash, which are bowls made out of dried plants, which made us all feel like a big part of the culture. After we were done with our Pito, there was a parade going on outside for a new chief of the village. There were people on motos, people drumming, some dancing and some walking in front of the taxi that held the new chief. It was another awesome bit of culture we were lucky enough to experience!

Today we’ll start building the stand for our treatment center and we couldn’t be more excited to go back to our village!!

New Year’s Day in Ghana

Posted on January 3, 2014 by communitywatersolutions

We had a great first day of 2014 here in Tamale! After a late night spent ringing in the New Year, we all slept in and then met at GILLBT for another day of orientation. It started off with an awesome monitoring presentation by our field staff: Peter, Shak, Eric, Wahab and Amin. The fellows had great questions for the staff! Bimala asked the guys, “What motivates you?” Shak, who has worked with CWS for over 4 years, replied, “This is my country and everyone deserves to drink clean water. I feel proud for my people, they feel proud to have clean water to drink and you all should be very proud for what you are able to provide for your new communities.”

After the presentation we all headed to the CWS office just down the road for a tour of the water quality testing lab. Brianan, CWS’ West African Regional Director, led the tour and gave an introduction to the lab work the fellows will be doing once they are done implementing in their communities. The Fellows will taking water samples from the safe storage containers that people will keep in their homes to test for recontamination. Testing for recontamination will help pinpoint additional education for the households.

Later in the afternoon, orientation continued with alum training. Alum is the first step in CWS’ water treatment model. It works to remove the particles and turbidity from the water. As the fellows have never worked with alum before it is important that they know how it works so they can teach it to the women entrepreneurs in their village.

The fellows then broke off into their groups to practice Dugbani (the local tribal language) with their translators. First they practiced greetings and then went through some mock household monitoring. The mock-monitoring conversations are a great way for the Fellows to get used to the format of questions and to practice working with a translator.

Shak teaching his team some Dagbani phrases

Yesterday, the fellows put their monitoring skills to the test in some of our current CWS villages! It was their first time in the field with just their translator and everyone had a great time! Today, they are off to their new villages for the first day! We can’t wait to hear how their first meetings went!

First Day in the Field

Posted on January 1, 2014January 2, 2014 by communitywatersolutions

The Fellows started off the second day of Orientation with presentations on the Global Water Crisis, Water and Disease, different types of water treatment, and the CWS project model. After lunch, they finally got to see a CWS village in action. Armed with their new knowledge from Orientation, each team of Fellows headed out on site visits to see the water treatment centers in two separate communities in which CWS has already implemented. Three of the teams visited Bogu and Tindan, and the other two stopped in Kurugu Vohoyili and Gariezegu. Despite the dusty and bumpy ride, the Fellows were excited to see the villages firsthand and to practice a few greetings in Dugbani to the children that followed them all the way to the treatment center. They also took samples of the Dugout water in each community so that they can practice treating the water with alum tomorrow. The New Years celebration started with the revealing of the translators that they will be working with over the next 3 weeks! We headed off to a local favorite, Sparkles, to continue our celebration and ring in the new year!

Happy New Years from all of us in Tamale!!

Fellowship Leader Michelle gives a presentation on different water treatment interventions

Meghan, Emily and Thalia with their new pals in Bogu!

Bryan collecting dugout water to later use to learn how to treat it with alum

The fellows pose with treatment center entrepreneur Damu in Tindan!

Jimmy, Danielle, Brittany, Thalia, Jazmin and Michelle at Sparkles

Anna, Sara, MJ, Caroline, Emily and Bimala

Jimmy having a blast learning some new moves from the cultural dancers

Brittany and Emily jump right in with the drummers

Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2013January 1, 2014 by communitywatersolutions

Happy New Year from the 2014 Winter Fellows!

First Day in Tamale with the 2014 Winter Fellows!

Posted on December 30, 2013December 30, 2013 by communitywatersolutions

Kallie, Danielle, Brittany, and MJ head into Tamale for the scavenger hunt!

After a long few days of travel, today was the first official day of the 2014 Winter Fellowship Program! After an all-night bus ride and a 7am arrival into Tamale the Fellows (and the CWS staff!) were all eager to eat breakfast, shower and nap for a few hours. We then all gathered for lunch and started orientation. After a few icebreaker games in an effort to get to learning each others name it was on to the first lesson: Ghana 101. After getting a lesson about Ghana and Tamale, the fellows teams were announced and they were sent off on a scavenger hunt around town– putting their new knowledge to the test.

It will be a early morning tomorrow with continued presentations about the global water crisis, water and disease, different water interventions and finally the nitty gritty of CWS and what we do! After a break for lunch, we will all head out to the field to see our current water treatment centers in action. Everyone is very excited to get out to the villages for the first time!

Thalia, Alex, Sara, Emily hanging out at the guest house after the scavenger hunt.

Bryan, Meghan, and Jazmin with the most coveted item on the scavenger hunt list: diet coke!

Peter’s Salaga Journeys

Posted on December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by admin

5.Jumping pic — Eric and Peter having a jumping picture by the new signboard in Kabache/Kasawuripe!

My name is Peter Biyam, the Project Manager of CWS. I have worked full time with CWS for the past four years now. This is my first CWS blog post. I used to work full time monitoring the CWS villages in and around Tamale, but for now my daily routine has changed, which I feel so good about. As of June 2013, CWS has a new office in Salaga. Every two weeks, I go to Salaga to monitor the villages CWS works in around there. I go to make sure all is well with our women entrepreneurs and their water businesses. Which is fun!

2.Dust — Peter and Brianan covered in the Harmattan dust outside of their favorite Salaga restaurant 4A’s

Every time I’m in Salaga, I monitor the 3 Salaga villages: Kideng, Kabache and Tunga. I monitor with Eric and Brianan in Mr. Suli’s taxi. The Salaga villages are almost the same as the Tamale villages, the houses look the same and the people farm as many villagers do for a living. The difference between the Tamale villages and the Salaga villages are the languages spoken. People in the Tamale villages only speak Dagbanni, but the Salaga villages speak three or four languages. This is because most of the villages in Salaga are farming communities and different tribes move there to farm. Some of the languages spoken in the Salaga villages are Gonjan,Dagbanni, Checosi, Twi and Howsa.

4.Eric and Peter Tunga — Peter and Eric sit with Fulera and Azara, water business entrepreneurs in the Salaga village of Kideng

One thing I enjoy is the 3-hour bus ride from Tamale to Salaga. The road looks like it is getting better, so you don’t get too bored on the bus. Wow it always is great to me when I get to the bus station and find out that I have a nice seat. The best seats are the ones numbered 1-18, where you sit close to the window. The worst seats are the ones numbered 20-30 where you sit on a folding seat in the middle, which is very uncomfortable! The bus makes a lot of stops for people to get down, like people having to buy food, people having to pee or people leaving the bus for their stop. So the people sitting in the middle have to wake up and get down for all of these stops. I usually wait 10-30 minutes at the bus station before we leave. I take advantage and run and get some food before we depart. I love when the cool air blows through the window when the bus starts to move.

1.Clean water — Clean drinking water from a CWS water business

The people in Salaga are awesome. There is an egg and bread seller at the bus station who has good food. People in the villages are lovely too, the kids are smart and cute. So I feel at home anytime I am in Salaga. I always love to go to the restaurants after a long day of monitoring like the Maridon Hotel and 4A’s. The food is always good. This is what’s on the menu: fried rice, plain rice and jolof rice, I always go for the fried rice.

I am so excited to work in Salaga because it makes me feel like CWS is doing a very great job of bringing clean water not only to communities in Tamale but now also to communities in Salaga. I feel so good about this. I am proud of myself to be part of a team that is doing such an awesome job. I love my job! I hope that CWS will continue to reach out to all those who are in need of clean drinking water in rural villages all over the world. And I hope to be part of the team as it is growing, taking on more responsibilities as one of the leaders of CWS. Thanks.

-Peter

Meet 2014 Winter Fellowship Leader Michelle!

Posted on December 16, 2013December 16, 2013 by samreilley

I am so excited to introduce to you to our 2014 Winter Fellowship Leader, Michelle Butler. We can’t believe it has already been two years since she was a fellow in Ghana implementing a water treatment center in Kurugu Vohoyili. Michelle’s upbeat and fun personality will be a great addition to the CWS Winter Team! Michelle we can’t wait to see you in Ghana!

I’m a fourth year student at the University of Virginia (yes, we call students first through fourth years instead of freshman through seniors, and no, I do not attend Hogwarts). I am finishing up my Foreign Affairs major and Art History minor. I will be staying in Charlottesville next year to study International Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. I love traveling and cannot handle the cold—needless to say, I’m counting down the days to return to Tamale.

I was a Winter Fellow in 2011 and have been absolutely dying to go back to Ghana ever since. When I returned home, I signed up for a program that would alert me of the cheapest flights to Ghana, ignoring the fact that, as a jobless student, I was about $1,400 short of the best $1,500 ticket deal at any given time. I also knew that I really wanted to go back to Ghana as a member of the Community Water Solutions’ team once again.

Community Water Solutions has always been so appealing to me because it is clearly at the forefront of international development work. I have studied many different development projects, as a Foreign Affairs major with a concentration in Africa, and am cognizant of the main problems most organizations face. Community Water Solutions has built a model that is explicitly designed to overcome the pitfalls of projects that lack adequate monitoring, on-the-ground staff, awareness of the local context, accessible materials, and sustainable plans. You, as Fellows, will be able to make an actual, lasting difference in the villages in which you work because of Community Water Solutions’ model. 30,000 people have already been served in the Tamale region with an incredible success rate, and you will help us add to this number!