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Voices from the Field: The Pineapple Express!

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So our team, Team Pineapple Express, started off our Tamale adventure really strong, winning the scavenger hunt with a prize of pride, but hey, we also found Barack Obama underwear, which is a prize in itself.  Our team is Stephanie, David, Matthew and Abena and we all come from different backgrounds and came to Ghana for different reasons, making our team a really interesting and dynamic grouping!

 

David posing with a Djembe for the CWS scavenger hunt!

 

Stephanie pounding Fu Fu - another scavenger hunt task!

 

Everything has been really great so far.  After visiting two different villages that already had worked with CWS, we were really excited to finally visit our own village, Jabrang (which we are still working on pronouncing).  Although its one of the farther villages, we’re really excited to be paired with this village, which has about 33 households and lots of enthusiastic members and adorable kids!  Our chief meeting went really well; he was really excited to have us and all the elders and other present members could not wait to get working and get the project off the ground.  The dugout water is really dirty and full of algae and bacteria.  We’re really happy that we can assist this village clean up their water.

 

Abena and Wahab checking out the dugout in Chani, one of CWS' newer villages

After our initial meeting with the chief, who by the way is awesome, we held a village-wide meeting the next day.  With the help of our trusty translator, Wahab, we explained to men, women and children who we are, what CWS does, and what our partnership would look like and how we are able to help them.  We explained in detail the implementation process and how the water business operates.  We also brought with us water samples, both clean and dirty, to help all the villagers visualize what we were talking about.  It is an understatement to say that they were all on board, excited, and extremely grateful.  They gave us a round of applause in the end and wanted us to start immediately!  We’re so happy to have a village that is so thrilled.  We know we can really make a difference in Jabrang!

Yesterday we started the building process: manual labor day one!  Fortunately for us, Wahab is a great mason and takes the polytank stand construction very seriously!  He requested a lot of pictures to be taken, mostly solo shots!  But he really did a great job!  We had a crowd of about 25 people, men and children mostly, watching the stand being built and just coming around to show their support and see if we needed any help.  It was great to see such a good turnout from the community.  The kids are also finally warming up to us!  Can’t wait to play!

Matthew helping to load the van with bricks for the polytank stand!

 

Our translator Wahab loading up the van with sea sand for our polytank stand
Wahab laying the first row of bricks for Jabrang's polytank stand
Another solo shot of Wahab and his excellent work!

 

-Stephanie, David, Matthew and Abena

 

 

Casino Night!

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Last night, CWS hosted our first-ever Casino Night for the Summer Fellows. Normally I prefer to use the online casino at UFABET, but I kept an open mind. We were a little worried that it would feel like summer camp or an all night-grad. party gone wrong, but it was so much fun! It was an intriguing casino and they had some games I hadn’t even seen at https://www.bcasinoreview.com/. Nonetheless, it was a really fun experience that I would happily do again. Everyone got into all of the games and we all had such a great time! If you enjoy casino games, take a look at casino.com bonus.

Welcome to the Clean Water Casino!
The Fellows gambling away!
The poker table!
The competitive Banagrams table! yes, you can find a way to bet on Banagrams!
Our awesome decorations
Meaghan, Alyssa, Steph, Kelsey, and Annie
The blackjack table
Hudson, Chris and Will, the winners of casino night with their prizes!

Tomorrow we are going to start our “voices from the field” series where the fellowship teams write about their experiences in the field. First up, Team 5 – Stephanie, Abena, David, and Matthew H. Stay tuned!

Summer Fellowship Program Day 4

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Another day, another guest blogger! Here’s what Fellowship Leader Hannah Stonebraker has to say about Day 4 of the Summer Fellowship Program:

And they’re off!! As of yesterday all seven teams are out in their villages!

In the morning we heard presentations from two UNICEF officers, highlighting their Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs as well as their Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) initiative. The presentations sparked everyone’s interest, and resulted in a fascinating question and answer session as we all expanded our knowledge on the sanitation situation in the rural villages.

Foster Soley from Unicef presenting to the Fellows

After a thoroughly Ghanaian lunch of groundnut soup and rice balls, the fellows and respective translators all loaded into vehicles and headed to the field to check out their villages for the first time:

Team 1, the “team elders, ” with T.J. preparing to brave the road to Gbateni, the farthest village. After setting up their meeting yesterday they return today to talk to the Chief!
Team 2, “nothing but net,” with Shak, right before they went out and had a meeting with the Chief of their village, Kushimi.
Team 3, all sporting their shades, with Ayesha gets ready for the drive to their village, Kpalbguni (which I still can’t pronounce)
Team 4, “salaminga snails,” (salaminga meaning white person), poses with the always stylish Peter against the trusty CWS pick-up truck. After successfully setting up their chief meeting in Takpuli for this morning, they decided they would use their extra time to help Peter build an addition on his house!
Team 5, “pineapple express,” (sadly minus david) pauses for a moment with Wahab, before they head out to Jabrang to request a chief meeting. Full of anticipation they return this morning to talk to the chief and elders.
Team 6, with Lukeman (center), and their faithful taxi driver Hamza (left) get stoked to explore their village Kedula.
The team 7 girls, “fufu fighters,” (minus Heather) head out with Amin to Kula. Upon arrival in Kula they found a large rainwater tank already in use, though it only provides clean water for two months of the year. The girls return today to further explore the possibility of working in the village and coordinating with whoever is running the rainwater collection site.

All teams returned pumped for the progress in their projects, as they all get one step closer to providing more people with direly needed clean water!

Summer Fellowship Program Day 3

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Today we are lucky to have another guest blogger: fellowship Leader Hannah Hill! Here’s what Hannah had to say about Day 3 of the Fellowship Program:

Yesterday’s agenda was so action packed and so full of excitement that I have not been able to write about everything we did until just now. The fellows awoke with the roosters for their earliest morning yet – a 5:30 am breakfast for a 6 am start. Each team went to monitor water sales at a different CWS village. You can really see the leadership, initiative and creativity that the 28 Summer Fellows have as they go beyond monitoring to fix leaky buckets, bandage wounds, and quickly problem solve all obstacles that arise.

Kendra showing off some water samples in the field
Hudson helping out a small child in the village by bandaging up his wound.

After a rejuvenating lunch of chicken and rice – a Ghana favorite – the teams practiced for their chief meetings and rotated through the lab, testing the dugout and treatment center water they collected from their village that morning.

Kate showing Sharifa and Hudson the ropes in the lab
Christina, Heather,Xi and Cassie practicing their chief meting with their translator Amin

You can really see how the fellows are getting more comfortable with each other and around Tamale as they spend their free time partaking in competitive games of Bananagrams or exploring the Cultural Center and the town market.

Ianthe trying out djembe in the cultural center

After a long day’s work, the group went out for a celebratory dinner at Swad, a CWS favorite. Whether eating the American pizza they craved, the Indian restaurant’s signature Tikki Masala, or a more traditional tilapia and banku, everyone had a wonderful time. My favorite part of today has been that no matter who I’m talking to, or what I’m talking about, every conversation ends with, “And I’m so excited to see my village for the first time tomorrow!” As I write this blog now, the fellows are headed to the field to see their villages. I cannot wait to hear their stories when they return!

– Hannah H.

2011 Summer Fellowship Program Day 2

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Today we have a guest post from Fellowship Leader Annie McBride! Here’s what Annie had to say about the second day of the Summer Fellowship Program:

Today all seven teams got one step closer to bringing clean water to seven new villages around Tamale!  We started the day with a brief icebreaker activity that took a little longer than expected.

The first group quickly unwinded limbs,

While the second group seemed to struggle a bit…

Feeling a little closer to each other and I think a little more wary of partaking in future icebreaker activities, we continued on with orientation.  Each group learned how to roll alum balls and the proper swirling technique from their translators.

Ianthe, Hudson and Chris with Shak.
Peter, Ben, Nathan, Annie and Christine
Steph, Abena and Wahab.
Christy, Karina, Lukeman and Matt watching the particles in the dugout water floc together
Heather, Christina, Xi and Cassie with Amin.

And then roll played to practice household visits…

Jess, Kelsey, Kendra, Javier and TJ.

After lunch, each team headed out to visit past CWS villages to practice household monitoring and to get a better understanding of the water treatment center they will soon be implementing in their own villages.

Will, Alyssa, Abigail and Meaghan take a break in the shade with translator Ayesha, while entertaining all the kids in Nyamaliga.

All in all, it seemed that every team had a great initial experience in the villages and are looking forward to beginning their own projects.  We are very excited to see each of their projects develop over the next three weeks!

-Annie

The Summer Fellows Have Arrived!

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After a crazy 31-hour adventure that involved a misunderstood directions, a “staff meeting” at the bus station (which caused a 4+ hour delay), a broken down bus, 9+ hours waiting for a new bus, a new bus, and finally, a 11 hour ride upto Tamale, our 2011 Summer Fellows have arrived!! We are so excited that they are finally here and are so impressed with their positive attitudes, resiliency, and pluck!

The group arrived at the bus station at 1pm this afternoon and we whisked them away to their guest house where they could shower (yay!), eat a big lunch and recover from their journey. Here are a few pictures from lunch-time to prove to all of the caring parents out there that everyone is happy, healthy and well fed!

Some of the boys enjoying their first meal at GILBT, chicken and rice!

 

Ready for a good meal!

 

Welcome to Ghana!

 

We're so happy you're here!

 

3/4 of the CWS Staff: Ayesha, Amin, Annie, Hannah, TJ, and Lukeman. (missing: Shak, Peter, and me!)

Fellowship Leaders Are Here!

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Hannah, Hannah and Annie arrived in Tamale on Sunday night and we have been having a great time getting ready for the Summer Fellowship Program!

The 2011 Summer Fellowship Leaders: Annie, Hannah Stonebraker, and Hannah Hill

Its been a busy week complete with driving lessons (all of the vehicles here are standard!), planning sessions and trips to the field.

Peter teaching Hannah S. the basics of driving stick-shift
Annie showing TJ how she's mastered the Jeep
Shak showing Hannah H. how to drive the moto. By the end of the afternoon she was a pro!
Hannah S. trying out the moto with TJ
Despite the few rains we have had in Tamale, the roads to the villages are still alittle dusty....

Although the Fellowship Leaders have mastered driving the truck, jeep and motos, there is one thing that we haven’t quiet figured out yet…

Clearly we need to take some lessons from the Winter Fellows..

Almost all of the Summer Fellows have arrived in Accra. The last few flights are getting in this afternoon and tonight and they all head up to Tamale tomorrow! Stay tuned for more updates!